The New War
by forinsyther
Summary: The zombie apocalypse has begun in Atmos, but who will manage to survive?
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone, I've got a lot of ideas whirrling around in my head for fanfics and this is one of them. A zombie apocolypse breaking out in Atmos was one of them that I've been wanting to do for a while. I would've started sooner but I just finished Aerrow in Wonderland and I didn't want to do more than one at once.

Annnnywaaaaay moving on! I hope all my readers enjoy this new fic I've been looking forward to writing this for a while.

Also I'd just like to give a quick thank you to ilikadachocolate and Whitika who took the time to review every chapter of Aerrow in Wonderland I hope

you enjoy this new fanfic!

The next chapter could take a while coursework etc is mounting up but I will do my best not to make you wait

Dark Ace: stop assuming that people enjoy what you write -_-'

God hes a rude sexy bastard isn't he -/-

Um...I think that's all I wanted to say so enjoy!

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A fierce storm rattled the windows of the condor, as a dripping wet Starling sat with her friends the Storm Hawks. She had just came back from a recon mission at a mining terra that was being occupied by the Cyclonians. Her arm had been banadaged up from a wound she had recieved during the mission.

"What? Are you serious?" The blonde sharp shooter asked, all of them were startled by Starling's story. None of them had heard something like this before.

"Unfortunately yes," Starling answered "One of the residents living near by the mines approached me and...bit me."

The sky knight was a little shaken up from the whole thing, and she felt exhausted, although she decided it was just because of the difficult flight to the condor.

In the dead of the night, their discussions were dying down so they decided to go to bed. Everyone but Starling. Her head was throbbing from the fierce head ache she had, so she decided to remain in her seat with the blanket wrapped around her, rather than get up and move around.

Now alone, Starling forced her eyes shut, tears squeezing out of them despite her struggle to hold them back. She grasped the blanket tightly as her stomach churned uncomfortably, her heartbeat was pounding in her ears, heavy sweat droplets began to drip from her forehead. She winced as her injury burned with pain. She slowly opened her eyes to try and keep control, but it only made things worse. Her vision was extremely blurred, so blurred that when she tried to raise to her feet she immediatly tripped over herself and toppled to the cold floor. The thud to the floor shook her body and made the pain worse as the blood pumped hard through her limbs. Dammit she needed to find someone, anyone, she desperately needed help, but she couldn't move, she didn't want to move. She finally gave up her painful battle and just lay there curled in a ball, praying for the pain to pass and leave her in peace.

The Storm Hawks were still in the process of fully waking up when they entered the room where Starling had slept. The scene before them left all six standing there wide eyed, their jaws hanging unhinged. It was such a remarkable sight to them because usually, Starling was this proud woman who took pride in herself when she presented herself before others.

There she stood ever so randomly at the side of the room, near the window. The Storm Hawks had a side view of her, but it was enough to see the state she was in. Her skin was really pale, as though her heart beat had tragically stopped. Her eyes had huge dark lines under them and they were half shut, she looked sleep deprived. Her mouth was hanging open a bit and a sickly hoarse moan was coming from it.

"...Starling?..." Piper only just managed to say the Interceptor's name. Starling began to turn her head towards the Storm Hawks, then the rest of her body followed. Her movement was so stiff and slow, like a walking corpse. She showed no recognition for her friends when she saw them, although her eyes widened ever so slightly as though something had caught her attention and she liked it. She began to stumble towards the squadren, the sight was just too hard to endure, but Aerrow and his team kept their eyes fixed on her. It was the shock more than anything that kept them there, they felt like they couldn't speak or move, they didn't know what to do with her.

As she got closer to the young teens she looked like she was trying to lunge at them, her hands reaching out to them to try and grab a hold. She almost reached Finn when Stork suddenly forced her back violently with a broom. This corse of action seemed to shatter the tension in the room.

"Stork what are you doing? Wh..what, what's wrong with her?" Aerrow stuttered still feeling a little shaken up by Starling's apparant illness and Stork's sudden treatment towards her.

"I was afraid that this might happen, but it seems that it's finally started" The merb preached as he began to have trouble keeping the woman held back with the feeble broom.

"What's started? Stork what are you talking about what's happened to her?" Piper demanded harshly, she was probably the most afraid out of the squadren, but it was more of a fear for her friend. She loved Starling, she admired the sky knight and now to see her in this devastating state was horrifying to her.

"As soon as she explained that she was bitten by a local, my suspiscions sprang up, and I was right! That was no ordinary human who bit her, that person was infected with an uncurable disease that takes over the mind and body, leaving the victim as this walking corpse wanting nothing more than to pass on it's illness with a devastating bite!...either that or they'll continue to bite you until there's not much left."

Stork glanced back at the team who all stood there with a confused look plastered on their faces. Stork sighed at their ignorance "Starling's a zombie."

"Dude that's crazy! Zombie's don't exist, except in the movies!" The rest of the team agreed with him, refusing to believe Stork and his accusation that an actual zombie apocolypse had broken out.

"For once will you all please just listen to me! Because if you don't we are all dead!" Stork pleaded with a harsh tone in his voice that none of the team truly recognised. It worried them, how much of a big deal he was making out of this. Was he really right this time?

"But Stork, how can zombies be real? It doesn't make any sense at all, you're being irrational. Just let me take a look at Starling I'm sure I can find the real problem." Piper ordered and grabbed a hold of the broom, signalling for the merb to set it down. But Stork refused, whether they believed him or not there was no way he was going to willingly allow any of his friends to be taken away by this disease. So he held on even tighter and kept pushing and forcing Starling away.

"Piper's right Stork, stop being so paranoid. You always worry about this stuff but it never happens. Starling's just ill, and I think the last thing she needs it to be handled like that, so stop hurting her with the broom and listen to Piper." Aerrow ordered.

Since Stork still refused to obey his leader, and the fact that the rest of the team were getting agitated, Junko decided to step forward and approach Starling. He figured he would just lift her up and carry her to a bed, he was strong but gentle so he felt he was best for the job. Besides he didn't want an arguement to break out.

"Junko what are you doing? Don't get any closer!" Stork pleaded, but the wallop continued and reached his hand out to Starling offering to take her arm to steady her. Starling stared at Junko, never once blinking. Her shaky hands reached for Junko's and held tightly onto them, in a sudden and quick movement, Starling pulled herself down to Junko's skin and bit hard on his strong arms. She pierced through the skin with her now sharper teeth, blood trickling down his arm.

Junko screamed and stood their frozen in terror, Finn screamed with a high pitched squeal, Piper and Aerrow stood their wide eyed and shocked from what had just happened. Aerrow would have went to attack, but in his mind Starling wasn't the enemy, his mind hadn't fully processed the situation at hand. None of them truly had.

However Stork took action, he brought the broom to his chest then charged into Starling, knocking her to the floor. She wasn't going to stay down too long though, so Stork ordered the rest of the squadren who were still in severe shock for them to get out of the room. He tried to be as fierce as possible to make them listen, it seemed to work as they began to hurry out of the room, Junko with them.

Aerrow and Finn baracated the door while Stork and Piper checked Junko's wound. It was quite deep, which worried the three of them considering how thick the wallop's skin was.

Starling began banging on the door as she tried to get out to the Stork Hawks. It sent shiver's down their spines, having to deal with someone like this, especially with it being their good friend.

Stork had been prepared for this day for a while, just like he had with other surreal disasters. So he pulled the others away from the door, he wasn't sure if the now blood thirsty Starling would be able to break through with her new strength, he certainly didn't want to stay and find out. He knew what they had to do, the team had to grab their weapons, essentials, jump on their skimmers and flee the condor.

The merb lead them to his room and grabbed a smallish wooden crate that was sitting neatly in a corner collecting dust, he then told Aerrow and the others to grab their weapons and meet them in the hanger bay.

Before Stork left his room to join them he unlocked the crate and searched around inside, panicking slightly, he hadn't looked in here since it arrived in the mail a few years back. Unfortunately there was no cure what so ever in here, none at all. He was now full of sadness for his strong friend, they were going to lose him and there was nothing he could do. He blamed himself, he should have kept Starling away from him. How was he going to tell the others, and more importantly Junko, that he would become one of them soon?

The six Storm Hawks were gathered in the hanger bay all sitting on their skimmers with the essentials. Starling was on the brink of escaping the room now, forcing her way past the solid door, starving for someone to rip apart.

Before they left their home, Stork needed to tell them about Junko. He wasn't sure how long he had left, the time the infection spread and took effect on the body varied.

"Junko, I hate to tell you this but...well..." The carrier pilot purposefully came out with this randomly before they left, because he knew he would find it hard to sit everyone down and talk to them about it later on. But he couldn't do it, he was chickening out again. He hadn't really planned out how on the Atmos he was going to tell Junko that he needed to die or become one of those horrendous beasts.

It's OK Stork, I know." Junko said with sorrow filling his voice, his eyes welling up from the acceptance. The whole team were full of gloom ow, it seemed they were beginning to understand and believe the truth in Stork's panic earlier.

You can fix him though right Stork?" Finn asked, his voice a little high pitched as he tried to hold back the tears that were forming with the idea that he could lose his best friend.

"That's the problem" Stork continued "I...well I...I can't. I mean I don't have a cure and I don't know how to make one. But there's no mistaking that Junko is going to...well...he's going to turn."

"So what do we do?" Aerrow asked almost to quiet to be heard.

"Well I hate to say it, but I'm afraid of when Junko becomes one because...if Starling is this strong, then I don't want to begin to imagine how dangerous Junko will be..." The storm hawks understood where the merb was going with this. None of them liked it but they remained silent, because deep down they knew he was right. Finn wasn't ready to admit it though.

"What? You can't be seriously suggesting that we...kill Junko are you?" Anger was growing rapidly within Finn and it was showing. He just wanted to strangle Stork for even saying such an awful thing, they were supposed to be a team. He didn't even seem willing to find a cure for his friend.

"I'm not enjoying this, you know." Stork said back to the sharp shooter, there was regret in his voice. He felt like a traitor to the team, but they had no choice.

Finn stepped off his skimmer. Filled with rage he stomped towards the merb ready to...well to do something to him, preferably knock him over with a good hard punch. The sharp shooter felt a hand on his shoulder, telling him to stop, he turned around to punch the person holding him back, but froze when he saw that it was Junko.

His eyes filled with sadness the wallop said "It's OK Finn, I've accepted what has to happen. This isn't Stork's fault."

"Starling said she felt ill last night didn't she?" Piper asked.

"Yeah so?"

"So at least we will know when Junko's about to turn because he'll feel the same. He can stay with us till then, right Stork?" The merb nodded, thankful that the crystal mage had calmed Finn down.

"Maybe Piper and Stork could even use Junko to help find some kind of cure right?" Aerrow inquired, the merb nodded again and explained that his kit did have some equipment that would be of some assistance to the research.

This revalation had brightened everyone's spirits at least a little. Junko certainly felt relieved that at least he could be of some help before he died, although Finn was only cheering up to make an effort for Junko.

A deep moan echoed through the hanger bay as the zombiefied Starling approached them. They turned to her, the shock returning within them, as they lacked the ability to deal with her condition. Aerrow prepared them to drive off and leave her, but just as he did something hit Starling square in the face. She knelt down, flames beginning to cover her, burning her skin as it peeled off her.

The room fell to silence at the sight before them, their jaws had dropped, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets. Starling had just been shot by Finn. He had hasitly added a phoenix crystal to his shooter to make her ignite when he fired, he wasn't sure if his usual attack would kill her.

"Finn?" His name only just managed to escape Piper's lips.

The sharp shooter was shaken up from the crime he had just commited, but he wanted to do it. Not to prove his courage or worth, he did it to admit to himself what kind of a world they were living in now. He couldn't live his life in the hope that everything would work itself out like it usually does with them.

The Storm Hawks drove off into the sky, with a new war to fight.

Please review and let me know what you think of my nw fan fic!

Just a heads up the next chapter will be about the Cyclonians


	2. Chapter 2

Hi again yay I've finally gotten chapter 2 written up and posted! I'm sorry that it's taken a while to get the next chapter up, coursework has been piling up and needed to be finished as I yet again left it all till the last minute XD But never mind I've been off ill and have had time to write this next chapter up MUHAHAHA! I mean whaaaaaaaa I've been spending my time of getting better and worrying about my health drinking loads of liquids and what not. Ahem so anyway I hope all my fabulous readers enjoy this new chapter that I've put up and I hope if you like it you will review. Because a review for me is a review against disease ^^

Oo.

"And there are no problems to report?" His master asked in that cool voice that almost made her sound like a reasonable leader.

"No Master Cyclonis, nothing to report." The mustached talon bowed and scampered out of the room after being dismissed. As the door closed behind him he sighed with relief, and gave his sore arm an itch. He had no idea why those locals near the mines decided to randomly attack him, but he certainly wasn't going to tell Cyclonis if it wasn't necessary, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

The screaming sirens boomed in his ears, and woke the sleeping Dark Ace as he fell out of bed with a loud thud, this particular alarm had never gone off before. It was only for worse case scenrios, which sent a surge of panic through his body, although it was quickly replaced with adrenaline.

The commander hurried into his uniform, and grabbed his sword that was carefully hanging on the wall.

The Dark Ace hastily opened his door that led into the hallways of Cyclonia. As he did, one of the most unexpected things occured. An actual talon, the people who fearfully respected him and wouldn't dare challenge him with eye contact, lunged towards him and pushed him down.

"What the Fu-"

His body hit the hard floor, and the sudden impact caused him to lose his grip, sending his sword flying just out of his reach.

He had never actually felt so panicked in all his life. This was mainly because of the fact that this weak talon was managing to keep Dark Ace pinned down.

The Dark Ace grabbed the attacker's jaw with his hand, as he seemed like he was trying to bite him. The commander thrusted and thrashed around but it was no good, the talon wasn't moving, and all this time his teeth were constantly clamping down as if hoping to catch the Dark Ace's finger tips.

He didn't want to bring attention to his embarrassing situation by yelling or screaming, but he soon roared "Get the fuck off me!" right in the talon's face. However there was still no reaction from his attacker, what on the atmos was going on!

He kept the him held back as long as he could until eventually, the stupified talon dropped on top of him.

The Dark Ace lay there silent for a few seconds. Until another talon, who looked much more wiser than the previous, ran in scanning the room and his commander, sweat running down his bloodied forehead.

The black haired man rolled the now dead talon off his body with one effortless push, and practically tripped over himself to stand up and appear presentable, like he always did infront of other people.

The talon asked if he was OK and if he had been harmed in anyway by the zombiefied talon. Dark Ace simply replied by grabbing hold of him and lifting him up so their eyes were in line with each other.

"Of course I'm fine you idiot! What the hell is going on?" He barked in the talons face.

"I'm not entirely sure sir!" The talon whimpered, trying to hurry his words before being hurt by his superior. Whether you were on the same team with him or not, Dark Ace was not the kind of guy you want to piss off. "Some kind of virus has been spread throughout Cyclonia, literally over night! Just don't get bitten sir, that's how the virus spreads."

"Virus? What the hell kind of virus? Can it be cured?" Dark Ace asked, he was beginning to get a little too worried for comfort now, although he would never show it upfront, his rage made sure of that.

"I don't know sir it just...turns you savage!"

"...Savage?" Dark Ace released the man, and they stood there in silence for a few more seconds. The commander just stood there staring at the stained floor, trying to get a grasp of it all. The other talon simply stood there watching him. The logical thing would be to keep moving but he figured he would wait for his superior, what better guy to team up with than the violence loving Dark Ace right?

The thoughts about all this in his mind whirrled around. Although he was snapped back into reality as another zombie talon entered his room, and was now stalking towards them with his hands reaching out ready to grab.

Since Dark Ace was unarmed, the talon who saved him leapt forward to protect him. He was only carrying a metal bar but it was better than nothing, as he kept it busy Dark Ace grabbed his sword and turned his attention back to the struggled talon. Only to find that he had just been bitten.

No more questions or worries, his killer instincts took control and his adrenaline surged through his body. With a spring in his step he ran towards the two talons, and sliced his blade through the zombie's neck, leaving it to drop to the floor headless.

He hadn't been this gruesome with his victims for a while, and it gave him a pleasurable urge to continue the slaughter.

He turned to the now bitten talon, panting with excitement at what was now a fight to the death.

"Don't get bitten huh?" He said with a cruel smile. The talon gasped with a horrified look smacked across his face, as the Dark Ace swung his blade towards him, quickly ending his life. "Thanks for the tip."

There was no worthy supplies or weapons to grab in his room, so he headed straight for the door with his craving for more killing.

The hallways were darkned as the power was starting to fail. He kept at a steady pace because he didn't want to run out of energy or run into something he would regret.

Anyone who got in his way he would sleigh. Whether they were a zombie or not it didn't matter, he didn't stop to find out. Lets face it the other talons probably never stood a chance at survival anyway, they hadn't mastered the skills he had, or were ruthless enough to survive this war

He made his way towards his queen's chambers, and prayed to any Gods out there for her to be safe. Although he figured she must be, she was wise and skillfull. There was no way she would let herself get bitten.

Side stepping and hopping over dead bodies that lay mutilated on the floor, he edged closer and closer to his master's chambers.

He had sworn since the day he arrived on the terra that he would selflessly protect the young master cyclonis, and those rules still applied in a situation like this where looking out for yourself was probably the best option.

Besides teaming up with Cyclonis was a great idea, they worked well together and could easily survive this whole...war against the dead. He believed in her and she trusted him with her life. That's the way it was and always will be between them.

Finally after gutting and beheading countless talons on his journey, he pushed hard and fast on the door and did the same to close it.

Everything seemed so placid inside, his footsteps echoed through the high celiengs as he made his way towards her.

"Dark Ace?" Cyclonis called out to him with a weak tone in her voice. There she sat against a wall with her crystal staff locked in her hand. She had a fierce look in her eye that the commander only recognised on the battle field. The Dark Ace rushed to her side hoping that the blood trails on the floor weren't from her.

There was a zombie laying dead on the floor with it's head seemingly bashed in.

Dark Ace's words were rushed as he spoke to her.

"Master, I came as soon as I..." The rest of his sentence was lost when he saw that his master had a deep wound on her neck...had she been bitten? "What happened?"

"Urgh those canabilstic talons bit me! I feel too weak to get up. Dark Ace would you care to fill me in?" Despite her weakened state, she found the strength to fill her voice with bitterness. She was furious with what had happened to her and her empire.

Dark Ace just knelt there silent from shock and a little fear. How...How did this happen? How could his ruthless queen of all people fall victim to this?

"You...You've been bitten master?" There was a quiver in his voice now, despite trying to cover his fear.

"Yes that's what I said. Crystals don't work on them." Of course she was an easy snack to make. Without her crystals she was only strong enough to fend off another girl her age.

He didn't know what to say, her life was now...over. This though haunted his mind, how could he let this happen to her? Regardless of the fact he was trying to search for the right and easiest thing to say, no words formed, he just knelt there staying in horror at her wound. His eyes were filled with sorrow.

"Dark Ace pull yourself together." She said in that calm voice of hers, she was obviously oblivious to the danger she was in. "What's wrong with you? Just help me up so we can get out of here."

Even in a state like this she was right, he had to regain that firm, sensible state of mind. Yes this was a shock but he had to rise above it, he felt like a traitor thinking this way, but there was no other option. He needed to tell his master the truth and he had to do it now, who knows how long it took for this virus to take effect on it's victim.

"Master Cyclonis...I'm afraid that once you're bitten. You become one of them." He had managed to push the fear he felt right to the far end of his mind. He needed to be strong, it was the only way he would survive this. No one lived long when their emotions got the better of them.

"You think I'll-"

"I'm sorry Cyclonis but it's true theres nothing we can do. Soon you'll become one of them, it's happening all over the terra." His voice was almost robotic as his sense of logic fought a battle with his emotions.

"So soon I'll..."

"Yes. I'm...I'm sorry...Lark." And that was it his emotions had won. The bond he had with his queen was too powerful, there was no way he couldn't not have a sentimental moment with her. This was his last ever time with her. He didn't love her romantically but the love was still there as a servant and companion none the less.

"Dark Ace" She paused and looked at him, there was a glint in her eye he had never recognised before. The servant waited for his master's next words, promising to himself he wouldn't get too upset no matter what it was.

"This is all your fault." The emotional look on his face twisted into a sort of confusion. His fault? surely she didn' mean it. Unfortunately this scowl at him was dead serious, and was recognisable from whenever she punished her other talons.

"...What?" Was all that managed to escape his lips, as his master stared at him like she was about to erupt with anger.

"What do you mean what? If you had gotten here sooner none of this would have happened! You're supposed to be my best warrior and you couldn't even protect me! It's a shame really that only now am I realising how useless you can be. It's just as well I'm dying Dark Ace, otherwise I would have you thrown to the wastelands before you could whimper the words 'Forgive me master'!"

Was she seriously mad at him? But this wasn't his fault! However her last words made him feel like such a failure, he couldn't even look at her. He just wanted to hide away in a pool of his own self pity. Every hurtful word stabbed at his pride. So much for the bond he thought they had, was this what she really thought? Had their 'partnership' just been to keep his pride in tact so he would remain a better tool for her? These were questions he now feared, and would never be answered.

She was dying, leaving her servant feeling like nothing.

Not even Repton and Snipe combined could give him enough strength to help him kill his master, as her body began the transformation. The words she left him with made him feel distressed, he didn't even have the will power to end her life before she became a walking corpse. He felt so ashamed that he simply got up and walked away, he couldn't kill her. He knew that when he looked in her eyes, he would still see the disappointed girl looking down on him like he was nothing, and it scared him enough to hold his sword back.

As the Dark Ace stood in the hall with his sword in his hand, gazing at the devastation before him with empty eyes, never before had he like felt like he had no purpose.

But he couldn't exactly stay here. 'For fuck sake legs move!' He thought to himself as his legs held firmly in place, preventing him to run through the scene before him. It's not like he couldn't live without his master, but her critism knocked him back a bit.

He didn't even notice the zombiefied talon just seconds away from biting his shoulder, until it fell flat on it's face infront of him with an arrow pierced in it's skull.

The gloomy thoughts evapourated in his mind as he realised where he was. It was a battle field and he was just standing there like an idiot.

Ravess ran towards him with another arrow at the ready.

"You haven't been bitten have you?" She asked him, her voice raised to be heard over the carnage. It sounded like she was worried but he figured he was just hearing things.

"Of course I haven't!" He yelled back feeling offened that she thought he would actually let himself get bitten.

His killing nature was returning now as he remebered who he was. He couldn't think about his master now he needed to get out of here.

He sprinted towards the hanger bay without another word to Ravess. Although she caught up to him pretty quickly, firing arrows square into the eye of any zombies who dared to get too close.

"I think it would be better if we teamed up Dark Ace." The commander prefered to work alone, but the archer made a lot of sense, they both had skills that would help them both a lot more if they worked together.

So he replied with a simple "Fine." and they ran off togther towards their skimmers.

He didn't bother asking about Snipe, despite their sibling rivarly, he figured if Snipe was still alive there was no doubt him and his sister would have teamed up.

As they flew away Dark Ace looked back only once at his home, as it slowly fell into ruin from the blood bath it held.

There was a few groups of talons who had managed to escape Cyclonia, darted around the sky. But Dark Ace didn't plan on joining them, Ravess was enough.

He looked at Ravess, who looked like she was trying to hold back tears. He never thought of her with a soft feminin side, but then again he was misjudging women a lot today.

The two of them flew off together with no plans and not a lot of hope between them. It was a first for the ruthless talons and they didn't really like it.

No words were exchanged between them, truth be told they both felt kind of awkward now that they had nothing to do or fight off. Dark Ace was again mulling over what Cyclonis had said and Ravess was just releieved to have found Dark Ace alive.

OoOo.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope there aren't a lot of Cyclonis fans who are pissed off with the fact I killed her off in the second chapter.

sorry!


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the third chapter I'm sorry it's taken so long I've been busy writing my book so I've kinda neglected my fan fic but I'm back on track! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Also quick thank you to all my reviewers you make my writing feel worth while ^^

disclaimer i dont own storm hawks!

OoO.

ch 3

The storm hawks had managed to travel to terra rex on their skimmers alone. They just couldn't stay on the condor, it was too painful knowing their bestest friend died on that ship, she was practically a team mate and now she was gone.

"You expect me to believe that Starling got 'ill', became this 'walking corpse' and now the atmos has a 'zombie infection' spreading around and junko himself is going to soon turn?" Harrier sneered, it was clear to see he was not impressed or convinced by the young squadren's story. Informing harrier would always be a difficult task, but no one expected him to mock the way he was "Well i think you've been watching too many horror movies" he chuckled. But the storm hawks weren't laughing.

As Harrier continued to refuse to take the Storm Hawks seriously, their tempers were rising. Not enough to start throwing fists, it would never come to that, but enough for both squadrens to start raising their voices as loud as they could in an attempt to be heard and make their point.

Aerrow was yelling about how they need to listen to him or atmos will fall...and that they were NOT children, Piper and Stork were trying to explain that they can find a cure but won't be able to if they don't start acting like they're on the same side, Finn was whining about how his best friend was going to die if Harrier didn't stop being a royal pain. Unfortunately, no one heard Junko say in a hushed voice

"Piper...I'm starting to feel a little weak...Piper? Stork?...What do i do?" His voice was nothing more than a whimper. He wanted to speak up like the tough guy he once was, but his body wouldn't let him, his illness was holding him back and dragging him down to join the zombies.

Both teams had been too busy to notice the loving wallop fall to the floor in pain, wrapping his arms tightly around his stomach, and his hand covering the burning wound. It was only when Junko coughed violently that anyone realised what was happening. The wallop was dying, his body preparing him to be reborn. No one in the room was prepared for what Junko would become, he was going to turn into a beast of elephantine strength.

Finn cried out to his best friend as he knelt down beside him. "Junko please don't go! You can't go you're my best bud!" The wallop began to shake vigorously, his voice cracking as he moaned loudly. "No dude stop it stop it. Don't do this please!" The sharp shooter's tears were forming a few messy pools by his knees, while his friend continued to lose this battle.

"Finn get away from him." Aerrow ordered quite weakly, this was hard for everyone.

"Dude I can't leave him!" Finn whined, his voice high pitched and hoarse from all the crying.

"Finn...you have to, we have to get out of here before he..." Piper argued, attempting to be brave as she tried to restrain her tears.

Junko had stopped moving, at this point Stork and Aerrow had pulled Finn away from his best friend. They dragged him away as they left the room, and proceeded to block it so zombie Junko would have a tough time breaking through.

"OK will someone please tell me what on Atmos is going on?" Harrier yelled feeling anger form within him from the constant growing panic.

"We told you Harrier, people get infected and turn!" Aerrow retorted, the frustration boiling inside him a little. He just had to lose a good friend and an excellent team mate. They couldn't even say goodbye because they were too busy arguing with this pompous idiot to hear Junko trying to warm them.

There was a lot of heated discussion about weapons, how to kill them, finding a cure and evacuating the terra. They were all still stationed at the door when Junko's hand burst through the it, it didn't even seem like he used a lot of effort. His hand kept opening and closing as he tried to pull someone towards him. Finn's tears had never stopped and now they were as bad as ever.

Both Storm Hawks and Rex Gaurdians were fleeing for the exit. Everyone had a weapon in hand, Stork had been given one of Aerrow's daggers. They picked up the pace when they heard what must have a been Junko bursting through his door (which worryingly didn't take too long.) Junko roared for the taste of flesh and began to charge through the halls after them. Stork made a mental note 'so wallop zombies can run..'

The two squadrens finally made it to the iron double doors that led to the street, they closed it behind them and locked it tight. Junko still had some distance to make before he reached them.

"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but someone really needs to put him down before he reaches the public." He was right of course, but that didn't exactly make people want to volunteer. There was a minutes silence which felt like a life time, until Finn spoke up.

"I'll do it." He said boldly as he began to hold back his tears. It shocked everyone and no one really understood why he of all people offered to do this.

"Finn...are you sure?" Aerrow asked putting his hand on the blonde boy's shoulder.

"I need to do this...it should be his best friend who..." He couldn't finish his sentence but Aerrow understood.

"OK meet at Harriers landing strip after. We won't leave without you." Aerrow promised, trying to withstand his leader status.

"Thanks Aerrow" They nodded to each other then went their seperate ways. Aerrow began to follow Harrier as he led them to the rondevu point. Piper couldn't help but hug Finn tightly and wish him good luck before heading off too. Finn and Stork looked at each other then shook hands. All the arguing between them on the condor didn't matter anymore. Stork swallowed and said

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm sorry too dude." They wanted to say more to each other, they even had ideas in their head about what they should say, but nothing came out, so they simply smiled at each other.

Finn was now alone, standing steady with his gun at the ready infront of the door, waiting for Junko. He unlocked the door, which he considered to maybe be stupid, but he did it anyway.

The sound of the wallop's footsteps echoed through his mind as he rapidly got closer. Suddenly the heavy doors swung open, revealing the now savage Junko. He looked horrifying and his eyes seemed empty, like no memories of his friends remained. Finn squealed in shock and terror at the sight. He swallowed and pointed his gun as Junko eyed him up.

"I'm so sorry..." He swallowed and went to pull the trigger, but a mental block had formed. Finn couldn't deal with idea of ending his best friend's life, this block formed the minute he caught sight of him.

The sharp shooter was terrified, everytime he tried to fire, his memories would hold him back. He began to stumble back as panic flooded his mind. He tripped over his own fear and fell to the floor with a loud thud. This seemed like an trigger for Junko as he began to run forward snarling for blood.

Finn did all he could do. He screamed...

OoO.

Well there it is the next chapter! I hope that was worth the wait XD

If you enjoyed it please review ^^ Ill update as soon as I can!


	4. Chapter 4

Hi guys sorry for the long wait again! Heres another Cyclonian chapter, I know some of you were waiting to see what happened to Finn but Im going in the Storm Hawk ch then Cyclonian ch order, so youll have a bit more of a wait. Sorry! But yay I got to write about Dark ace in this one -sighs-

dark ace: u creepy fuckin stalker e.e

me: meh call me that all you want it was break those chains ^^...what are you guys still doin here? read the frigging chapter already DX

I dont own storm hawks

OoO.

The skilled talons Dark Ace and Ravess had travelled safely on their skimmers to the wayside, and were now stocking up on crystals to continue their journey towards no particular destination. They planned to just keep moving and stay alive, until this whole thing blew over, which they both had no problem with. Dark Ace had kept his master's last words to himself, he was ashamed of himself because of them.

They sat together in the cafe, Ravess had a salad, Dark Ace just had a coffee. The place was kind of full but calm, although they were giving a few suspiscious and wary looks at the Cyclonians. It seemed the virus wasn't exactly world wide yet, so there wasn't panic on the streets. Yet.

"What do you think is happening Dark Ace?" Ravess asked, she tried to sound as serious as she always does but she couldn't mask her fear.

"You know as much as I do Ravess." The commador replied, not even bothering to look at her. "Why are you with me?" The question caught her off gaurd so she tried to reply quickly.

"Well don't you think it would be better that two, uh skilled talons stuck together? You know, better chance of survival an all?"

"Not for me. I'm better off alone, I'd rather not have to worry or rely on someone else." He said sounding a little agitated.

"Yeah well it would be useful for us to share techniques wouldn't it? I could teach you how to use a bow and arrow." She told him sounding a little hopeful. He just grunted at her, it was as if to say he'd never need it.

She could only think and worry to herself. How long would this partnership last and when would she have to say good bye to him? Then it occurred to her that he could ditch her at any time. And if that meant they'd never see each other again, she had to tell him something. "Dark ace..."

She was interupted by glass smashing behind them. They both turned to find three zombies breaking through the door and windows of the cafe. Quicker than lightning Ravess fired an arrow through the closest attacker's head. Then again in the one trying to break through the window. Dark Ace followed suit by sleighing the last one. Ignoring the screams of terror from others on the terra, they headed for the skimmers.

Unfortunately there were more of the infected walking around outside. It was nothing they couldn't handel. However the pair weren't expecting to find that Ravess' skimmer had just been stolen by a panicked civillian. It seemed titles and reputations didn't matter anymore.

Ravess was beginning to fret about being left behind by Dark Ace, when he suddenly ordered "You'll just have to ride on the back of mine we don't have time to replace yours!"

He was still keeping her? She was so relieved and happy.

"RAVESS WATCH OUT!" The archer saw her partner's wide gaze, then turned to find a zombie grabbing her arm. But she was faster and forced it's teeth away from her flesh with her hand on its forehead, she tried to push it off but it was stronger. She could hear a slashing sound behind her and blood splattering, was Dark Ace having trouble too? Before she could think of a tactic to save herself and the Dark Ace, the zombie broke free from her hand sheild and bit her neck. She screeched in pain as it pierced her skin and ripped her flesh off violently, spreading her blood across her's and it's face.

Dark Ace's blade prevented it from doing anymore damage to the archer.

The space was clear for a few meters around them. Ravess fell to her knees, holding her neck as blood pumped through the gaps in her fingers, dripping on the floor. Tears soon fell too. It was over for her and the adventure had barely begun, she hadn't even told Dark Ace...Dark Ace! His hands clutched her shoulders in comfort, seems he couldn't manage a hug.

The commandor knelt infront of her, when she looked at him he appeared genuinly upset about her. "...Sorry..." managed to escape his lips. He wasn't mocking or belittling, he was actually grieving for a loss. She felt overjoyed that it was over her, even though it would be the last she'd ever feel.

"Its not your fault" she whimpered. "Dark Ace...I...I lied to you before."

He looked at her with a little suspiscion "Oh really? About what?"

"I wanted to team up with you because...I...I've wanted to be with you...for a long time now" Saying this to his face was the most difficult thing she ever had to do and she could feel herself getting hot with embarrassment. But she was glad she told him before it was too late. She was only just brave enough to catch his reaction, it was a mixture of shock and realisation. She couldn't help but smile at him.

"Oh..." Was all he could manage for a space of time after. "I never would have guessed."

"Yes well I've said it now. You'd better get out of here before I...turn or something." She was trying to get rid of him to endure her bashfulness without his prying eyes, and he knew that.

"You're right." His lips curved into a handsome smile that always made her go weak at the knees, thankfully she was already on her's. "Guess I'll say goodbye then." She closed her eyes and accepted her fate, ready and waiting to lose the feel of his warm hands. Only to find them cupping her face, and shockingly his lips were on hers! She opened her eyes hardly believing it, but there he was embracing her with a romantic kiss. It was hardly the best scene but it didnt matter there and then. She simply enjoyed it to the full and kissed back.

He finally ended it and said "I have to go, sorry to leave you." Just as he stood up she asked with a rushed voice.

"Do you feel the same way?"

He sighed and said "I'm not going to lie, unfortunately not. But i will miss you." He smiled and winked at her, she smiled back with another tear forming.

"Good. Then please end me before I turn." He gasped from her sudden request, but he wasn't too shocked. Ravess was a very proud woman, and no one would want to become one of those hideous beings. He quickly scanned the area, he didn't have much time.

"Fine."

OoO.

Well there we are another chapter I hope it was worth waiting extra long for the storm hawk cliff hanger T-T


	5. Chapter 5

Hello to my wonderful readers and reviewers! Here is the next chapter sorry it took so long to upload Ive had other stuff going on. But now Ive finished sixth form and have no social life uploads should be quicker...provided writers block doesnt appear and be a bitch T-T anyway I hope you enjoy the next chapter and thanks to all my reviewers ^^

OoO.

BANG! Finn finally managed to fire his weapon at Junko, but his fear over powered the sharp shooter's judgement and caused him to only graze the edge of zombie Junko's head. Although it didn't kill Junko it did knock him down.

Finn scrambled to his feet, and once again pointed his weapon at his savage friend. The sound of his frantic heartbeat pounded loud in his ears, his chest heaved with the adrenaline and fear that was surging through his body.

Junko's head raised and his blank eyes met Finn's blue. The roar the wallop released triggered Finn's hands to quiver with nerves as he began to stand up. The young blonde knew he had to make this shot count, not only for himself, but for his team, for the entire Atmos. This fact wouldn't repress all of the pain it caused him though and it sure as hell didn't make it easy to kill someone he loved so dearly.

Suddenly the sound of an animal screeching interupted both Finn and Junko's attack on the other. The noise was so hostile and was quite close. Then before Finn could say "huh?" Radar leapt out of no where with a fierce look of determination, and landed on the back of Junko's head. He chirped loudly and covered the zombie's eyes, when he thrashed around Radar started to squash and scratch his eyes more than cover. Finn couldn't have been more thankful for the sky monkey's distraction. He fired his weapon with a fire crystal to get the same results as Starling. Unfortunately due to Junko's struggle with Radar he missed his head again, but was now ignited.

"Just hold him there Radar! I've almost got him!" The sharp shooter ordered. As Finn set his aim Radar shrieked again, but it was more like an cry of pain than a sound of attack. Finn looked at the co pilot with worry as his face twisted with pain.

"Radar?..." What Finn couldn't see was that Junko had grabbed a hold of the sky monkey, and was digging his fingers into his sides. Before Finn could help Radar with another shot Junko howled and Radar squealed. Before him, the wallop ripped the sky monkey in two. Fur fluttered to the floor as blood splattered everywhere. A scream escaped Finn's lips and his eyes widened at the horrific sight.

With flames still flickering on the wallop he charged towards his terrified team mate. Finn no longer saw a friend, Junko was a monster. He began to reload and fire over and over to try and take the wallop down but it was no use. He never managed the crucial head shot.

Finn's loud gasps and screams were soon silenced when Junko reached him.

An impatient foot tapping on the cobbled floor, a watch's ticks echo through the silence and the sound of metal armour clanging against each other. This was pretty much all that could be heard as Harrier, Stork, Aerrow and Piper stood anxiously waiting for the return of the brave selfless Finn. Harrier was growing highly impatient and his plan to evacuate himself to safety was growing more in his mind by the second. Stork was getting uneasy about how long it was taking, and he was beginning to suspect the worse. Aerrow and Piper held each other as they stood afraid of the whole situation.

"He's taking longer than I expected." Stork remarked checking his watch again.

"Don't worry. I garuntee Finn will round that corner any second now." Aerrow reassured nervously, although inside he was as doubtful as the merb. They all were.

Piper asked "Do you think it was a good idea sending Radar after them?"

"Knowing Finn he'll need all the help he can get." Aerrow said as he looked back on the many times Finn failed in the past.

The Rex Gaurdian sneered "Well I think it's about time we stopped using present tense with this boy." The team didn't appreciate the heartless implication he was making, so they all glared at Harrier with scolding eyes.

Silence returned for a few more minutes before Aerrow spoke up again. "OK this has gone on long enough I'm gonna go check it out." He made it a few steps before he felt Piper's warm hand holding onto his wrist. He looked at her but she wouldn't meet his gaze, like she was ashamed to stop him from doing his duties as team leader. But that's who he was and he had to go. As he marched on with his blades at the ready he reassured her by saying "I'll be back soon...I promise." He didn't intend to break that promise.

Retracing his steps back to Finn's destination Aerrow was getting closer.

Every little noise that was randomly made around him, caused the red head to follow the sound and clench his blades until his knuckles were white. He hated how cautious he had to be, but he was so scared now and was subconsciously wary of everything.

Thanks to a cat running through the shadows behind him, Aerrow was now backing into where Finn lay. When he turned back around his eyes caught sight of his team mate, and it made him sick. His fingers nearly lost grip of his blade handles as he stared in horror at the state of Finn's corpse. The situation felt so surreal that he fell to his knees in disbelief. "Finn...no." Tears gathered in Aerrow's eyes and he could barely look at the sight before him.

Blood covered the young boy but it didn't mask his state. One of his arms had been torn off, the other arm's wrist had been bitten into and now had bloody gunge over flowing out of it. Judging by the top of his chest it looked as though large fingers had pieced through the skin and dragged down his body, so now there was a large hole in Finn's stomach where his skin should be. His innards were on show. His face, well the remains of his face almost made Aerrow throw up. Junko must have bitten his fore head and pulled, as half of his face was gone.

Aerrow was currently holding back his puke in his throat, until he found Radar, who was in just a disgusting state. That was it for Aerrow, he bent over and coughed up bile.

A loud roar was made in the distance, Aerrow looked up towards the noise, his stomach churning. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve, got on his feet and fled back to the others as quick as his feet would carry him.

As soon as he saw Piper's face he wanted to embrace her, but his empty face looked on ahead to his skimmer and he continued past her with haste. He heard them say something but he wasn't sure what, everything around him sounded muffled. He wasn't clear if he even answered them, but a few things he was certain he said were "come on." and "we've gotta get to Atmosia." There was a fixed plan in his mind to send a radio transmission across the atmos to warn everyone before it was too late.

The four survivors from terra Rex made it safely to terra Atmosia. Thankfully Aerrow was acting more like himself, but those images would always been stuck firmly in his memory bank. And it sure as hell wasn't easy repeating it to the others, but they needed to know.

They hurried together through the streets of Atmosia. They almost reached the building in question. However a radio announcement had just started without them. An old man inside was explaining in a panicked voice the dangers of the new attackers, and that people need to stay safe. Then the voice continued on to say "If we don't get out now we'll...no how did that get in here? Ah no stay back! Someone hel-AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" It stopped there.

An eerie silence filled the streets. The public's eyes were fixed on the building. The clash of a trash can interupted the silence though. A zombie emerged from the alley and moaned.

Like clock work every single person on the terra seemed to scream together. As more zombies appeared from houses, people began to run to the edge and fly away...if they could. Aerrow, Piper, Stork and Harrier were among them. Aerrow held tightly onto Piper's hand, he had no intention of losing her. Stork was close behind them, their weapons out and at the ready. Although they wouldn't kill unless necessary.

Harrier was running beside them and was side stepping the people in his way. A man with fear in his eyes grabbed a hold of the Rex Gaurdian's arm and was pleading for the sky knight's help. Harrier twisted his face and yelled "What are you doing? Get off me!" With that he pushed the man to floor and left him to the attention of a hungry zombie.

Harrier's head snapped back to the direction of the Storm Hawks. Thankfully they hadn't seen him. He didn't exactly feel guilty for leaving that man, it's not his fault a zombie was close by, but he knew the hawks wouldn't approve.

Now safely soaring through the air on their skimmers the Storm Hawks were planning to fly to another particular terra, unfortunately they'd lost Harrier in the crowd.

The three of them turned to see the chaos over ruling the once quiet streets of Atmosia. They wanted to help, they felt evil for not. But there was nothing they could do. They could no longer shoot from long range and their weapons weren't strong enough to handle the crowd. It was better to help everyone in the long run, that's why they were headed to terra Blizzaris.

OoO.

Well there you go! Hope you liked this one if you did please review and ill post the next chapter as soon as I can.


	6. Chapter 6

Hi and welcome to chapter 6 of the new war! Thanks for everyone's patience and thanks to all my reviewers ^^ I hope you enjoy this new chapter :) I can't think of anything else to say which is as shocking as Finn's death in the previous chapter so yeah XD

disclaimer i dont own storm hawks but imagine if I did this fic would make for some epic episodes wouldn't it XD

OoO.

The commandor raised his glowing sword as the archer remained kneeling, waiting for her accepted fate. She flinched as she heard a slashing sound, however she didn't feel anything. She looked up to find Dark Ace killing a zombie behind her.

Red eyes met yellow, and before she knew it, the Dark Ace was holding her hand and pulling her to her feet towards his parked skimmer.

His sudden actions caused the archer to scream "Wait what are you doing?" He sat her on the back and began to start the engine.

"You're not dead yet woman!" He yelled back at her as they took off abandoning another zombie covered terra.

Back in the open of the sky with the cool wind blowing through their hair. Ravess asked again because at that moment it was all she could think of "Dark Ace...what are you doing? I could turn at any minute!"

"Yeah and if that happens I'll throw you off alright!" She listened to her bold partner. There was no arguing with him and his temper. So for the time being she enjoyed her remaining time alive, let him take her wherever and held onto him without a care in the atmos.

The two Cyclonians landed on a terra hidden behind clouds, it was a small no place, it was more like a large rock. Dark Ace stepped off the skimmer, followed by Ravess who stumbled off and fell to the floor, she was getting weaker.

"OK so why are we here?" The archer asked, clenching her throbbing bite wound with her blood stained hand.

"I figure we should stay here. Out of the way and wait" The Dark Ace answered looking down at her with a slight smirk in the corner of his mouth.

'Wait? What could he mean by that?' And then it hit her. "Wait you're not going to let me turn are you?" She cried out to him, she was furious. If this was on his mind she was going to kill him.

He chuckled a little and said with his smug grin growing "Yeah that's the plan."

Tears were beginning to become hard to hold back for her. This was the one thing she didn't want. It was the one thing she'd ever personally asked of the commandor and he was ignoring it. "Why? Why would you do that? I asked you to kill me before that happened!"

"I know but I was going to use you to find out what they're capable of and what not." He was keeping surprisingly calm in this heated discussion, which was debatebly worse since he was acting really smug and proud of himself.

"Why can't you do this to someone else? Is this how you treat everyone who has feelings for you?" Her angered face was replaced with surprise as she witnessed a change of emotions on the talon's face. What ever it was he certainly didn't look happy with himself or what he was doing anymore.

"Yeah well I've never had to deal with someone who likes me. So I guess I'm just learning." They both looked down at the floor, a little lost with what to say next.

"There's probably a cure...somewhere." Dark Ace started as he looked out into the mist that shrouded the terra they were on. "If I kill you now, you'll never come back. But if I keep you here, as a zombie...you see where I'm going with this?" He looked at her with a hint of kindness in his eye that Ravess couldn't help but smile ever so slightly.

"OK...deal" She nodded to him.

"So, how do you feel?" He asked. She looked at him with a 'what the fuck' face.

"Just for future reference so I know what to look out for."

"I feel sick...and my wound is burning..." She screamed in pain as she began her transformation. She squirmed into a lying position, her eyes clenched shut. Sweat poured down her face and her heart was beating at an uncomfortable rate.

Dark Ace could only watch as he slowly lost her to the infection. He felt some foreign emotion, but he wasn't sure what it was. "I'd let you squeeze my hand but you might bite it." He said bluntly and a slight giggle managed to escape her lips.

"So emotional as always."

"I try"

There was more struggles and cries, then silence, and before he knew it Ravess was getting up again. But with empty eyes and a low tone moan. The comnandor looked at her for a second, blew her a kiss then headed for the edge of the terra, which he proceeded to climb down out of sight. He scaled around the side until he looked over to see a rock on the surface that he could hide behind and stay out of sight of Ravess. He climbed back over onto the floor again and crawled behind it, making sure zombiefied Ravess hadn't noticed.

Now he could test her capabilities. She seemed a little lost with what to do with herself, so at the moment she was walking in circles. Dark Ace waited until the rock he was hiding behind was in her sight range. Then he raised his sword over it and moved it around to see if she would notice. No reaction. He then instead, raised his hand to see if she could detect heat. Her eyes were still looking in his direction but still no response.

By now she had turned away from him. He picked up a stone and threw it off her back. 'Interesting they can't feel anything' he thought. He picked another stone and threw it near her. Success! They react to sound, and it doesn't look like they can run, as Ravess stumbled to the sound of the stone hitting the ground.

As the sun began to set, Dark Ace found himself trying to figure out what to do next. 'I can't go back to Cyclonia' he thought to himself 'and 'I doubt any terras out there would happily put me up for the night. Hm I could head for bogaton, but it's too far to travel tonight.'

The talon decided to camp out on the stray terra with Ravess, however he needed to keep her away from him.

Not too far a flight away Dark Ace managed to recover a strong enough chain and a metal rod.

Keeping Ravess occupied with stones, Dark Ace stuck the rod deep into the ground and made sure it was secure. He tied the chain to the rod and with some awkward manouvering, managed to slip the chain around the zombie's neck.

Now for the next step, making sure she was definately not going to surprise him in the middle of the night. The Dark Ace stepped back past the chain's length and called out to zombiefied Ravess. She stalked towards him, her hands stretched out as she prepared to grab and claw him. Then the chain pulled on her neck and she couldn't go any further.

He chuckled to himself as he stood before her trying to grab him. "Cmon Ravess. Come get me! Come gimme a kiss"

That night Dark Ace lay on his back looking up at the moon illuminating the clouds, until he fell asleep and let nightmares over take his mind.

There we go another chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! I'll have the next out as soon as possible for you guys ^^


	7. Chapter 7

_**Hi everyone! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to upload the next chapter I apologise to everyone who waited patiently. Not only have I been distracted with other stuff, but I was also a little stuck with this chapter, I didn't really know what to put in it, I usually have a chapter summary for my fan fics, for some reason I don't for this one I really should make one O.o **_

_**Anyway enjoy and I don't own Storm Hawks**_

_**OoO.**_

Terra Blizzaris was luckily isolated from the rest of the world's disaster. Unfortunately it was most likely a matter of time before the infection also hit this snowy wonderland. The Storm Hawk's first choice of destinition wouldn't have been Blizzarus. It's freezing cold, so is the food and the local squadren can get a little...over excited, but lately the Absolute Zeroes had been working on a project that had the whole Atmos talking: a new range of non crystalized weapons. The idea had caused a lot of debate throughout about whether or not it could be done, after all it had never been heard of before. And with it being the Absolute Zeroe's idea it seemed even more ridiculous.

But alas there the remaining Storm Hawks stood, watching in amazement in a sound proof basement, as the absolute zeroes showed off their insane new weapons. All three were incredibley impressed, as they witnessed these guns fire bullets that had a higher penetration than any crystal weapon. The only question was: was this weapon useful against the zombies?

With a gun where one of his daggers used to be, Aerrow flew towards the nereast zombie covered terra to try out the new weapon. Once again Piper hadn't been too happy about her beloved leader leaving her again. He made the seperation easier for both of them by giving the crystal mage a quick kiss on the cheek, followed by a promise to return.

While safety was a certainty on this terra for now, Piper and Stork kept themselves busy with trying to figure out a plan to stop this madness and find a cure. Before fleeing the condor the two had managed to take with them books and tools that would be of assisstance but, finding a solution would take time and concentration.

OoO.

With the sun still blazing, the red head landed on a smallish terra that was covered with thin frost. On this terra there was a tiny village with roughly ten buildings, including a few houses and two supply shops.

Aerrow landed his skimmer where the first building begun. He began to slowly walk the streets with his gun ready to fire, although he was trying to contain his hand's tremble. The sky knight hated the fear that had been created with all of this.

His fear had him on high alert though, and he scoped out a gruesome looking walking corpse merging from a shadow. Dragging a disolcated ankle it struggled towards Aerrow. There was one hint Stork had given Aerrow that would save his life _aim for the head. _Before it could stumble any closer Aerrow fired his weapon, his aim was no where near as skilled as Finn's though so he only grazed the shoulder, still it set the zombie back a little. Aerrow exhaled trying to keep calm and fired again, luckily this time he managed the head shot and it fell forward with blood pouring from its head and shoulder. Success!

Before leaving Aerrow decided to check if this terra had any survivors. He knocked on one of the houses trying not to make too much of a disturbance, since there could easily be more wandering around. "Hello?" he whispered "is there anyone inside?"

The door swung open and an arm grabbed his shirt, pulling him in quickly. He was then pushed violently into a wall with an axe centimeters from his nose.

The man who had him spoke with a hushed but angered voice "Have you been bitten?...Have you?" Aerrow shook his head timidly, looks like hospitality was a thing of the past too. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm clean...I swear." The guy let go of him although his suspiscious eyes didn't ease up.

A man with a cigerette in his mouth and heavy boots came storming down the stairs sounding twice as furious as the first guy "That scrawny little moron, there's loads of them fuckers out there now!" Aerrow watched a woman with a baby follow him down asking him if he would keep quiet for the baby's sake. It seemed to work. Until he spotted Aerrow that is. "I don't believe it. Carl what the fuck did you let him in for?"

"Rick calm down this isn't gonna help us"

"Fuck you Carl! That little dip shit attracted all the zombies!"

Aerrow had to get out of here, either way he wasn't welcome. "It's OK I'll just go now."

Carl answered him "Sorry kid but you'd have no chance, your gun shot got them all worked up, now we're surrounded."

"Wait you mean they hunt by sound?"

"No shit."

"Can they see us?"

"No, geez kid where you been?" The sky knight didn't particularly like these people but they had been helpful. "Never the less. You can't leave now, it's too dangerous. Weapon or no weapon you're just a kid and we're not that cruel. Right Rick?"

Rick grunted then nodded. "But you're out of here first thing kid!" Aerrow nodded back to him, if he could help it Aerrow wouldn't be sleeping in the same room as this hot headed dick.

The sun was beginning to set, and after managing to keep quiet, the zombies that had surrounded the house were beginning to wander off.

Aerrow felt his stomach turn when he thought of Piper. He should be with her, supporting and protecting her, instead of playing the hero and seperating himself from her at a time like this. He was so eager to see her that he was forming a plan to sneak away and fly back to Blizzarus.

The sky knight creeped down the hall in the dark towards the front door, Aerrow had all his morals regarding human beings in tact, but if he needed it for protection he held the one dagger he brought incase the gun was a failure.

His hand reached for the door knob when he heard Rick's voice from behind him. "Where the fuck do you think you're going? Didn't you hear Carl, you can't go out there." Aerrow wouldn't even look at him, he was determined to run.

"I have to go." That was all he wanted to say, so he started to turn the knob. As the door creaked open Rick rushed towards him and pinned him against the door. He looked furious at Aerrow for disobeying them. He must have been nothing but a burden to them since Rick raised his weapon to Aerrow and struck at him.

Aerrow only managed to evade the strike, resulting in the wooden door being hit instead. It was ruined, and the sound had recaptured the zombie's attention. A desperate pale hand crashed through the door just inches from Aerrow's frightened face.

Both of them moved away from the door. A group of zombies were on the verge of bursting through. By now Carl and that lady with the baby had appeared demanding an explaination.

An arguement had risen between the three and the baby was screeching. Aerrow watched as two or three zombies suddenly squeezed through, groaning and reaching for the people inside. Aerrow slipped away from them and headed for the stairs, he looked back and called to the others to follow. They came to their senses and headed up the stairs with Aerrow, the zombies weren't too far behind though.

There were three rooms upstairs; a bathroom and two bedrooms. Aerrow seperated himself from the others as he fled to the bathroom. Locking the door behind him, he stood there frozen, his blade at the ready.

There was a light pounding on the door, Aerrow kept quiet, but when the noise wouldn't stop he stumbled back and slipped. "Oh shit!"

It sounded like more than one was at the door now, their hands pushing against the wooden door. He had to act fast, fighting them off sprung to mind but he didn't know how many were out there.

His head darted around the room for answers while the door seemed to get weaker. At that moment in time his only solution was the small window.

Forcing it open he looked down. Only the street would break his fall and it was quite a drop. _This shouldn't be so hard _he assured himself _I've survived higher jumps. _With that in mind he confidently climbed on the ledge, silently counted to three and jumped.

In mid air leaping down a large distance with his trusty co-pilot waiting to catch him is easy. But trying to land safely on a frosty floor with blood thirsty zombies wandering around was another thing.

His landing was awful but it could've been worse. The young boy slipped when his feet touched the ground, causing him to land on his side. In result his right ankle and wrist were twisted, and his forehead had a gash. Four zombies spotted the fallen sky knight.

Aerrow struggled to get to his feet (the frosty floor didn't help), and limped as quickly as he could back to his ride, firing his remaing bullets behind him hoping to stop a few of the walking corpses. He didn't have a lot of success.

With difficulty the red head started up his skimmer and finally flew off the terra.

OoO.

Turning a page then looking out the window into the snow storm was becoming like a ritual for Piper as she waited for Aerrows return. _Why is he taking so long? Surely he'd be back by now. _She tried to focus on her research, but her worry was taking over her mind and she couldn't concentrate. She didn't even hear Suzy Lu approach her.

"Don't worry ey. Aerrow can handle himself." She was right of course, but that didn't stop all the horrific reasons as to why he hadn't returned yet.

The crystal mage hadn't even noticed her friend walk away, the ideas in her head were too intense she couldn't escape them. One particularly nasty one, is where the guns have absolutely no effect. And Aerrow just keeps shooting and shooting hoping to finally kill one but he never does, and the next thing he knows hes on the floor being...well she closes her eyes and prays the darkness will help erase the rest of that awful image.

Thankfully Stork's sweet but paranoid voice broke her trail of thought "Piper, what's a 'tempus crystallus'?" She looked at the Merb a little confused, those awful thoughts had set her mind blank. She searched her memory bank then remembered, just like she always did.

"It's a special crystal, however it doesn't exist."

Stork double checked the book then said "Well that's funny, since there's a photo of one in here." Piper didn't even bother getting up to have a look, she had revised that book a lot in her spare time. She was already aware there was a photo of the tempus crystallus and she could even remember it's beautiful emerald colour too.

"Yeah I know, they're actually man made." She would've stopped there but Stork seemed interested. "It's a really complicated crystal, you have to collect a lot of crystals then place them together in certain location. They all combine to create this crystal that can..." Piper stopped there, her eyes staring wide into space. "Stork...I think I know how we can save the Atmos!"

_**OoO.**_

_**Sorry guys you'll have to wait to see what hsppens next ;) what can I say I love cliff hangers :P I really hope this was worth the wait and I'll try not to let myself get distracted from my writing again XD Talk to you guys soon!**_


	8. Chapter 8

Hi guys! How long has it been? Yeah I know it's my fault Y-Y. I'm sorry for making you guys wait for ages. But I think I've made it up to you because this is a hell of a long chapter!

Well I guess you guys can let me know if it was worth by leaving me a review ^^

I don't own Storm Hawks

OoO.

The Dark Ace woke up in the middle of the night with sweat pouring down his face. His eyes were wide with shock for a moment as he forgot where he was. His heavy breathing began to calm once he recalled the situation. As he saw the zombiefied Ravess pulling at her chain.

And that's when he noticed it.

It was Ravess, she was looking at him. Not looking in his direction, not looking past him. She was looking directly at him. _But they can't see, how is this possible? _He asked himself.

He wasn't in the mood to try sleeping again, and there wasn't much else to do at four in the morning, so the tired commandor sat up and observed his ex team mate with curiosity. Something really odd was going on and it worried Dark Ace. Not only did it look like she was staring at him now, but she was pulling harder on the chain. She wasn't simply tugging at the chain as she tried to walk, she was now actually pulling on it with effort and loosening the rod from the ground.

By six o clock the chain was almost uprooted and Dark Ace was now at the ready to strike her if need be.

Then something extraudinary happened that added a whole new twist.

The sun began to rise and beam on Ravess' pale cold skin. As it did, Ravess seemed to be cringing with discomfort. It looked kind of like she was ill. Right before his eyes the zombie went back to looking as vacant as ever. Infact now she wasn't even looking at him. He waved his hands to get her attention but nothing. _The night gives them power? _He pondered, his mind filled with confusion.

These new enemies somehow gaining more power at night was the only explaination he could think of.

His goal today was to set off for Terra Bogaton. But not for a team to fight this war with. Dark Ace stood by his previous statement, he didn't need or see the point in having people to fight with. They'd just get in his way.

This trip was more like recon for weapons and supplies. He was secretly hoping for a place to stay for a while too because his camping with Ravess idea wouldn't exactly last long, especially now that he knew at night there was an easy possibilty of her breaking from her restraints.

The Dark Ace had no troubles during his flight to Bogaton. Infact it was quite peaceful, and a relief to be away from all the troubles on the surface.

Keeping in mind the raptor's famous energy canons, the commandor flew low through the trees to avoid any trouble.

He parked at the door and announced himself, the raptors were inside but they weren't acting very hospitiple.

"So sorry to disappoint you." Repton told him "But there's no room here." He taunted and chuckled to himself inside his base.

Dark Ace refused to leave this early. He never really like Repton and his clan, but this was his only available option for help and accomadation as far as he knew.

"I think you'll find you're making a big mistake casting me out. But I'll let you reconsider." The man gloated as if he was in control of the situation. But all he heard from inside was more laughter.

"Sorry human! But now that Cyclonis is gone, you have no hold over us!" Dark Ace grimaced as he realised that was kind of true. Without the status of 'Master Cyclonis' right hand man', and with Cyclonia crumbling, ranks and such weren't going to be as valuable.

But no matter what, he was still strong willed man who wouldn't take any shit.

Dark Ace began with a chuckle to himself and then told the lead Raptor "Oh please, I wasn't even talking about that. I just thought you'd like to know about some useful information about the zombies that I've gathered.

"...Is that so?"

Dark Ace smiled to himself, he had the leader right where he wanted him. "And I'm to assume you won't tell us unless we let you in?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you, I want shelter and supplies for this information." He demanded. It felt good to still feel in power. He heard a faint growl from inside, then the gates lifted.

As he entered the murky room a few Raptors were gathered in the entrance room. They all stared at him with hostility. He simply glared back with that famous killer look.

"So. What's this valuable information that we need to know?" Repton asked as he lurked behind Dark Ace.

Dark Ace told him with a calm dismissive look on his face. "Ah yes that. I thought you'd like to know that at night the zombies gain more of their senses and become more powerful."

Faint growls became snarls from the crowd of raptors as Dark Ace stood there smugly.

Repton appeared infront of him and growled "What?! That was your big news? We already knew that!"

Dark Ace laughed in his face and said "Not my problem, a deal is a deal. Dear me, you're terrible at the trading game."

Suddenly from a shadowy corridor a voice echoed that was very familiar to the talon, and it made his heart sink for a recent loss.

"Well well I never thought I'd see you again." The bumbling oaf Snipe appeared with a handful of meat which he proceeded to take a bite out of.

"Hm like wise." Was all Dark Ace said.

"So why are you here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

"So Repton, why exactly did you let them in? I can understand my sister's aim, but what does he have to offer?" Dark Ace's eyes widened when he realised that Snipe wasn't even aware of his sister's death.

Repton snapped back "Sister? You're lousy sister isn't with him." And after that he walked off, the rest of the raptors followed and got back to work.

Dark Ace planned to walk off too, do some exploring, and maybe some thieving. But Snipe blocked his path. Dark Ace would normally be prepared for a fight with this idiot, but he hadn't eaten for so long now, he probably wouldn't stand much chance.

"So, where is she? Because I know she left with you." He questioned angrily, and began to force the commandor into the wall. Of course when Dark Ace felt himself being backed up he stood his ground and refused to move.

"Sorry to break the news to you, but she was bitten." He was blunt and there was no pity in his tone.

"What?! So you just let her die?!" He roared and grabbed Dark Ace's shoulder lifting him up a little.

"Yeah well I was a little preoccupied at the time!" He spat back feeling violent despite his lack of energy.

"Busy with what? Doing your hair?!" Snipe yelled, then punched Dark Ace to the floor with a hard fist.

Dark Ace looked up and realised his lower lip felt damp. He prodded it with his finger and found that the big bastard and made him bleed. But before he could get up to respond, Snipe was already walking away and threatning Dark Ace to watch his back.

The Raptors refused to give Dark Ace authority to look at and 'select' some weapons for himself. So instead when he knew there were no eyes watching him from shadows, he decided to go exploring through the base to hopefully stumble upon the weapon holding.

He was as much on edge as he would be with the zombies. Because if a raptor caught him straying from Repton's orders they would show him no mercy. He found himself with his back to the walls shuffling along, also because the sun was going down and if there were any zombiefied raptors around outside. God knows how powerful they must be at night, and there could be numerous ways of them getting in.

Luckily he came across a different kind of raptor. The Terradon scientists who had escaped Bogaton a long time ago. It seems they had returned in a sort if truce of survival. The Raptors would off protection in numbers in exchange for new technology and weapons.

"Let me look at your weapons." Dark Ace ordered. Before approaching them he had planned to sound as kind and innocent as he could to win their trust. But he was too sinister for that, so he scrapped it and chose to approach with his regular assirtiveness. It's what he knew best after all.

The terradons seem to have a soft spot for humans, since a couple of them had saved them from Repton before. And because of this they happily let the red eyed man take a look at what they had to offer, blissfully unaware that Repton may gut them if he found out that the unwanted talon was now cherry picking some weapons for his survival.

The first weapon that Dark Ace's eyes lured him to was hanging on the wall. He had a smile on his face as he liked what he saw, it was similar to a mischeaveus little boy getting what he wants.

He reached out to the weapon with his sore hand and grabbed the well rounded handle. Unhooking it, he raised it up pointing it to the ceiling, with a swift turn on his feet he brought his arm down, slicing the air with the newly polished blade that glistened in the light.

He felt extremely satisfied with everything about this sword, the weight, the length, the blade. And his grin presented his emotions highly. Although there was one small thing that baffled him, which he was beginning to draw attention to.

There didn't seem to be anywhere on the blade that could hold a crystal of any kind. He looked at the scientists with a confused look on his face, he was about to ask but Oppinsaur the lead scientist already knew his question.

"It doesn't use or need any crystals." The talon's look of misunderstanding didn't leave his face, infact he was even more confused. A sword without crystal energy flickering around the blade? It sounded close to useless. Sure the blade appeared sharp enough to slice a variety of targets. But how would he hit people from a far? Crystals gave him and his sword an upper hand just like everyone else's crystal powered weapons. With this he'd be a laughing stock and probably as good as dead if a crowd of zombies approached him.

As if the considerate lizard could read the disappointed man's mind. He told him "It may seem pointless now, but in the long run if this infection lasts, weapons like these will be the future."

"But how?"

"Well for starters without the right kind of crystal, firing energy at those creatures will do nothing more than set them back a few steps. Also, unfortunately crystals don't last forever. Surely you're aware of this?"

"Of course I'm aware of that I'm not stupid!" He retorted with anger feeling insulted.

"Well now that the mining has stopped, all terras will probably run out faster than expected. And if you're relying on a weapon that is only harmful when it's powered by a crystal. You won't last long. That is why Mr Dark Ace, since we arrived here we have been constructing a new range of weapons, all of which need no crystals."

With that reasonable explaination, Dark Ace went back to admiring his newly picked sword. Stroking the cool blade with the tip of his finger and smiling, he imagined himself in the heat of battle with it.

"So it has the same strength and power as my old sword?"

"Precisely." Oppinsaur said with a friendly nod.

"But what if I need to fire some from a far?" He asked, praying that his answer for that would be just as impressive as his new sword.

He was not disappointed. Oppinsaur brought him two small identica weapons, and explained that the ammunition will be perfect for firing the zombies from a far if he wants to keep his distance.

"Excellent!" That mischeveus smile was back and he began to feel the word unstobbaple would be best to describe himself with these weapons.

"I'm glad you think so! We call the small firing weapons 'pistols', and your sword is a katana."

"Fine by me." The man chuckled.

Before leaving the room of wonders, Dark Ace told them he needed to keep all of this a secret. Because of their admiration for humans, the terradons agreed not to say a word to their furious leader. So Dark Ace replaced his old sword with the katana on his back, and hoped Repton or the raptors wouldn't notice the change in handles. He then slipped the pistols in his pouches attached to his belt. A perfect fit luckily.

As he proceeded to step back into the hall, a scientist stopped him. "Just...watch your back." He then slipped him two small knives in his belt. Dark Ace simply nodded his thanks and headed back out to find a place to sleep for the night.

Repton had assigned him a sturdy quick made bed next to a barricated window near the entrance. He peered out of it before sleeping, and found that some of these idiotic lizards had recieved the infection through a bite too, as there was now a few wandering around outside the base.

Once again now that all was calm, his mind began to remind him of the harsh words his queen had left him with. And the love Ravess had offered him. He still wasn't sure what to do with it all. Should he forget about it and live his life as a new man? He practically was now anyway, since he didn't have Cyclonis back home to impress. So why despite trying to forget about it, did he feel as useless as she had called him when he had time to think about it?

Meanwhile in a room that didn't concern him, a meeting was being held. Between Repton, Spitz, Horde, Lugey and Snipe.

Snipe had pretty much been accepted as part of the Raptor team. He had a lot to offer them when he arrived, he had his strength and one more thing: goodies from Cyclonia.

Before the muscles of Cyclonia fled the terra along with the rest of the survivors, Snipe ran to the vault where all the precious crystals were kept. He didn't know what he grabbed but Repton found use for them. He also made a quick de tour to the weapon chamber grabbing daggers, a spear and an extra mace. He had told Ravess to follow him but she insisted that she had to find Dark Ace. God knows why, the bastard seemed pretty useless in his eyes.

It was only a matter of time before one of them killed him for a quick snack. And he didn't mean the zombies.

"Since prey is becoming difficult to come by" Repton said with a snarl as he stood before his brothers "I see no harm in making some real use out of that skinny talon!" They all laughed with a cackle of agreement in their throat.

Snipe would have laughed too, but he didn't find the taste of human satisfying. He didn't care about Dark Ace, and Ravess wasn't here to convince him otherwise. In a world like this it was time to see who is really at the top of the food chain. And finally the dominant one would be Snipe. Not that pretty boy with skinny ankles who spends hours in the morning styling his hair.

Dark Ace was woken to the sound of Repton's voice telling him to get up. And he heard something about hunting.

Dark Ace would happily go hunting, it would keep him busy plus the idea of food sounded magnificent.

The plan to kill the unaware commandor in his sleep had been suggested. But the lead raptor dismissed it immediately and announced that he loved the thrill of a chase too much to just slit his throat while he slept.

As the two of them left the base. Dark Ace was told that he wouldn't actually be catching anything, he was just there to watch Repton's back. That suited Dark Ace fine, he felt too weak to concentrate on hunting something anyway, it was just nice to get out in the open again.

As they trudged through the forest, Dark Ace made sure to walk behind Repton at all times. The same words repeated themselves over and over in his mind, _just watch your back._ Ever since he was told that he had kept his mind on high alert, and at the moment the zombies were the least of his worries.

They passed a fruit tree that Dark Ace refused to pass up on it's riches. So he flung a roch at a branch and caught the fallen fruit. His starved stomach forced him to down it as quickly as possible, but he savoured every bite. He barely heard Repton growl with annoyance infront of him.

The sun was high in the sky and by now the duo had caught a nice collection of unsuspecting pray. And Dark Ace had managed to sneak some more fruit into his mouth.

"This should be enough." Repton declared "I can head back now." He stopped in his tracks but kept his back to Dark Ace.

"Don't you mean we?" The man asked sarcastically with his eyes glaring up at the raptor, as he knew that right now they were enemies.

Repton didn't even bother answering. He pulled out his famous boomerang and turned to Dark Ace in an attempt to slash him. But Dark Ace was more than ready, and he jumped out of the way with more than enough time to spare. Still crouched from his jump he quickly pulled out one of the small knives from his belt and flung it in Repton's direction. Stabbing him in the hand he held his boomerang with.

The Raptor yelped with pain and turned his gaze back at Dark Ace, who was already up with one of his pistols out pointed at the Raptor's face.

He had a devilish smirk on. Repton merely seemed baffled by the shiny new toy Dark Ace held, but it didn't last long as he began to sprint up to Dark Ace with his claws ready to strike.

He roared "Prepare to meet your demise filthy human!"

"Fuck you!" And with that he fired. Hitting Repton square in the forehead. The raptor dropped to the floor like a ragdoll.

Although instead of enjoying his easy victory, Dark Ace was now panicking like mad and staring in horror at his pistol. "Why didn't anyone tell me it would make a huge bang when I fired?!"

He felt royally screwed. He couldn't go back to the base without being torn apart for killing Repton. And now because he had been denied need to know information he would probably been torn apart out here too.

So much for slipping away without detection. The bastard scientists back at the base probably heard that gun shot too.

The sun wouldn't stay shining forever, he had to get out of here fast. He prayed to God that these zombie raptors had the same capabilities as the human ones during the day.

Forget carefully choosing a path to the edge of the Terra. Dark ace was sprinting through the forest ignoring any vines or branches that whipped his face as he passed.

His fearful eyes were taking in everything he passed properly to ensure he didn't run into anything he'd regret.

Suddenly his legs brought him to a hault, causing him to fall on his hands and knees. Just a few meters infront of him was a zombiefied raptor. It's left eye was scratched out, and it's face and body were caked with dry blood, and it had big chunks bitten out of it's chest.

It was the fear of the unknown that enabled Dark Ace to hear his heart pounding. His wide eyes watched with terror as the zombie raptor turned it's eyes on him.

His fear grew as he realised that the it wasn't walking, it was actually picking up it's pace to catch him.

He was in too much of a vunerable spot to try out his katana, and there was no way he'd fire the gun again. Especially if fear caused his trembling hands to miss. So he scrambled to his feet while there was still distance between them and climbed the nearest tree.

He got comfortably high then looked down, much to his dismay it was following his example and clambering up after him. But thankfully a little slower.

At least he had a little time to gather his thoughts. The zombie wasn't exactly looking directly at him, at least they were blind.

He was in too tight a spot to pull the katana out, and he still didn't want to use the gun. For all he knew zombie Raptors travelled in packs.

So he decided to pull out one of his knives and stab it's head until it's skull was split in two.

He checked to see how long he had, not long at all, the dead lizard was only a couple branches away from reaching his ankle. He clumsily pulled out the knife, nearly dropping it in the process. Just as he got a firm grip on the handle, the zombie did the same with his ankle.

Dark Ace yelled in shock and tried to shake free, it didn't work, but it was stopping the zombie from biting him at least.

Trying his best to position himself right without falling, Dark Ace lifted his other leg and kicked it's wrist hard with his muddy black boot. The grip loosened a little, but not enough to get free.

Dark Ace's mind switched to the over kill state, which gave him the crazed violent feel when he was fighting. He started repeatedly bashing the wrist with his boot as hard as could to make it let go.

Just before the zombie started trying to grab and bite any other place it could while it still had a hold, Dark Ace finally forced it to lose it's grip. Thankfully his leather boots had prevented it's claws from penatrating his skin.

He adjusted his footing and readied himself with the knife, the zombie edged closer. As soon as it's head was within an easy reach, Dark Ace stabbed it hard making sure the blade went deep. Although it strained his arm a little trying to penatrate the new tough skin.

He pulled out the knife with a lot of effort. It was still groaning, so he stabbed it again, and again, and again, over and over.

He couldn't stop, he didn't really want to stop. He knew by now it was dead, but he ignored the time he was wasting and ignored the blood that splashed over him with every strike.

It was like the hatred for these walking corpses had been boiling up inside of him. And he'd never truley been able to enjoy the moment when killed one. That's what he was doing now, but oddly enough it didn't feel like it was all for him. He felt a sense of justice as he stopped another one from wreaking havoc. As if he was doing this for what they had turned the world into, and how much death it was now causing...and for Ravess.

When the body finally fell to the floor with a wet thud, Dark Ace panted heavily and stared at it. He wasn't even sure what just happened, he'd never had such a strong feeling of purpose and revenge when killing something as meaningless as that. And he didn't understand the feelings that came with it. Getting moody over the zombies for causing him all this trouble was one thing, but why had Ravess came to mind? Why couldn't he forget her words? It was almost like he missed her company...or at least needed someone by his side through this...no that was ridiculous.

_I'm just tired_ he simply decided, and he believed it. Why would his heart want the burden of a partner anyway?

He managed to make it to the edge of the Terra without anymore trouble. After taking a short rest and breath of relief, the next stage of his crazy plan was put into motion.

With no where else to run, and with killers at every turn waiting for him in the depths of Bogaton. Dark Ace did the only thing he could do to survive, he climbed over the edge and made his way down to the wastelands.

OoO.

So was it worth it? I hope so

I'll try to have the next chapter up soon!


	9. Chapter 9

Hello everyone again! I am sorry to everyone who has waited so long and so patiently for this chapter. Although to be fair I have been on holiday for two weeks but I still feel bad for making you all wait for so long. Not to worry though I'm sure Dark Ace will punish me for you with chains and whips...yh that will teach me ;)

Aerrow: what the hell forinsyther really?! O.o

Me: Oh I'm just kidding ^\\\^

Dark Ace: no she's not :) *cracks whip*

Ahem! Anyway um maybe you should go read the next chapter while Dark Ace ensures that I get the next chapter out quicker :P

OoO.

The moment Aerrow flying on his skimmer was caught in the corner of Piper's amber eyes. She dashed out of the Absolute Zeroe's den calling his name. She fought to run faster through the thick snow, ignoring the sting that came with each step, as she only had socks on.

The moment Aerrow's tyres skidded to a hault in the snow she embraced him tightly, although his little yelps of pain caused her to retract. It was then when she realised the beaten up state he was in. He stood before her shivering a bit from the icy wind, Aerrow struggled on one foot and clutched his wrist, he'd managed to wrip off one of his sleeves to wrap around his forehead to stop the bleeding.

Piper could feel herself getting upset from his presence and it showed in her voice "Aerrow what happened to you? Please tell me you're OK!"

In any other scenario, her saying 'are you OK?' would have been a stupid question, but he knew what she meant. She was afraid one of his injuries may have been the cause of a zombie.

His voice quivering from the cold the leader answered "Sorry Piper but can we talk about this inside?"

Aerrow sat there with his tired eyes looking down at the floor. He'd stopped shivering, a warm fire, the blanket wrapped around him and the tea in his hand made sure of that.

Piper had never left his side since he returned. She was currently holding his hand as if she'd lose him again if she let go, but he didn't mind, he loved the attention she gave him at times like these.

The three remaining Storm Hawks sat there quietly as Aerrow recovered. In the silence Aerrow realised how much he missed Finn Junko and Radar. He could see them now, Finn would probably be freaking out a little and pushing Aerrow to explain what happened. Junko would be sitting waiting patiently for him to talk with a sandwich in his hands. While Radar helped keep watch outside. Being so busy with their current situation Aerrow hadn't been given a lot of time to think and grieve about the ones he lost, his mind was coming to the realisation that this was actually happening, half of his beloved friends were actually gone and it sunk his heart.

After recapping what happened to him and reassuring a paranoid merb that by no means had he been bitten or scratched by one of the dead. Piper stood up before him looking rather excited. The sky knight gave a sweet little smile at her, which he couldn't help. _I forgot how pretty she is when she's like this._ When Aerrow realised he was thinking this right infront of her, he blushed and turned his attention to Stork as if trying to brush off how embarrassed he just made himself "So what are you guys so happy about?"

"Aerrow you're not going to believe this!" Piper started, she held onto his hands tighter with anticipation to please her leader. "We've found a way to stop the infection, and bring everyone who suffered from it back!"

His jaw dropped and he found himself speechless. All he managed was to stutter the word how? She giggled and answered "It was Stork really, he's the one that found the crystal in the book."

"Wait, a crystal can actually cure everyone?"

"Not literally cure, but it will save us all." Before continuing to end her leader's confusion, she took the book from the desk and laid it on Aerrow's lap.

"'Tempus Crystallus'. It means time crystal."

"Time Crystal?"

"Yes, combining all the crystals in the Atmos and placing them directly in the middle of the forbiddon city on Terra Xoam, the user has the power to turn back time!"

"But wait, don't get me wrong it's a great idea, but if we turn back time how is that going to stop the infection from spreading again?"

"That's the point of the crystal, you give it a command. So when we do it, all we have to do is make sure the focus of the wish is based on terminating the infection and it should work!"

Aerrow was now joining his team mate in gleefully smiling, he stood up still holding her hands. "You're kidding that's great!" Of course it would be a hell of a task obtaining all the crystals needed, but it was just the idea of there being a chance to get everything normal. "So when we do this it will all go away?"

"Yep everyone who was involved won't even know it happened!"

"Even us?" Aerrow asked hopefully. He certainly didn't want any recollection of this traumatic experience.

Piper hesitated, then answered "Unfortunately not, the users of the crystal still remembers everything that happened despite it being erased from time." Aerrow grimaced at this, the last thing he wanted were these gruesome images locked forever tightly in his mind.

"Not only that." Stork interupted "But it might not even be possible to bring everyone back anyway." Of course Stork would be the bearer of the real bad news.

"Wait what do you mean we can't save everyone?!"

"Well, when you make the wish, you obviously have to ask that anyone who died because of the zombie out break is brought back. However if anyone is in the middle of the change and hasn't actually died before they transform. Well, they won't come back."

"Hold on a second Stork, what exactly do you mean by 'die because of the out break'?"

Stork sighed with boredom before explaining to his team mate. "Basically, your life line is determined by things that happen in the world. So for example, if someone commited suicide because of the out break, they would still be brought back to life after the wish is made, because they wouldn't have killed themselves if it weren't for the zombies. In a way it's like cheating death, but that's the beauty of erasing things from time I guess."

Piper continued "But people who have just been bitten but haven't reached the death stage yet won't come back, because they've yet to die and you can't overload the crystal with conditions."

"None the less I guess we've got to do it. It's the only plan we've got right?" Aerrow asked as he looked back and forth at his remaining team mates.

That night, tiny snow flakes dropped beautifully from the sky, Piper couldn't resist standing outside with a blanket wrapped around her to enjoy the gorgeous scenary. Moments like this came rare these days.

She heard foot steps behind her, her neck turned around quickly to see who it was, her heart pounding. She sighed with relief, her breath visible in the cool air as it was just Aerrow approaching her. However, her heart beat was still racing, it had been too long since the two of them had shared even a moment alone together.

As he stood beside her, he shivered a little and rubbed his arms with his hands. He hadn't brought a blanket out with him.

"You'll freeze standing out here like that." She said looking at him with concerned eyes that twinkled as brightly as the crystals she obsessed over. "You...you can share with me if you like?" She offered with an embarrassed smile.

"Thank's Piper." The two of them huddled together under the warm blanket, their arms linking to share body heat.

_I can't believe that actually worked! _Aerrow thought to himself_. _He smiled with a tint of red glowing in his cheeks as he held Piper tighter. Savouring this perfect moment as he knew it couldn't last.

His heart sank when his mind suddenly thought _This moment really won't last... _

Piper cuddled into him and he swallowed hard as he inhaled her sweet scent.

Now was as good a time as any.

"Piper?" Amber eyes met emerald as the two Storm Hawks looked at each other. She was smiling lightly at him as she waited for him to continue. Aerrow released a heavy sigh as he felt he was carrying a burden, he'd been carrying it for a while now and it was about time he unload it. "There's something I need to...well I've wanted to tell you for a while now." Subconsciously his limbs were stiffening. He couldn't help it, the sky knight had never felt more nervous in his entire life.

Piper's delicate mouth opened slightly as she realised what her handsome leader was trying to communicate. Although watching him get worked up and bashful like this was adorable, she didn't want to make him suffer long. So she leant in forward and stopped his incoherant babbling with her soft lips.

While her heart fluttered at the sensation, his practically leapt out of his chest from the shock. His eyes didn't stay wide for long as he began to kiss back, his eyes slowly drifting shut. She placed her hands on his shoulders and he held her waist as the kiss deepened.

At that moment neither accepted the fact that soon they would be staring down at an ugly corpse again. Because right then and there nothing else mattered.

The next morning Stork rushed to wake the two of them up. The merb waited for them to rub their eyes and fully awaken as he needed their attention.

"OK Stork what is it?" Aerrow asked as he stretched his arms.

"Well there's good news and bad news. The good news is Billy Rex is back from hunting." Stork's usual shifty eyes were working over time now, as he tried to keep his voice hushed. "And the bad news is" He gulped "He has a wound."

Aerrow and Piper instantly shot up to their feet with fear and paranoia. It was almost like mind swapping with Stork.

"Where is he?!" Aerrow questioned with a stern voice.

The moment fear from those creatures crept into Aerrow's mind, he switched to over protective for his remaining team mates. Especially Piper. Lately he had seen things that even hell itself couldn't beat, and there was no way he would ever let that happen to his beloved crystal mage.

Stork led the two humans to Billy Rex who was currently hanging up his proud catches.

Because he was still in a normal state, they resisted the urge to rush towards the Absolute Zero pinning him down and demanding an explaination. And they were glad too. It had never been discussed but the three Storm Hawks hated the inhumane side that came out when the threat of a zombie was before them.

So Piper carefully approached, sounding as friendly and unsuspecting as possible. "Hey Billy Rex, how was the hunting?"

"Sorry, guys don't talk about guy stuff with girls ey." She really hated it when he spoke to her like she was beneath him.

Although Aerrow wanted to smack the him for talking to his girl like that. They needed to avoid complications so things didn't get ugly. Instead he cut to the chase and interupted by saying "We only ask because, Stork tells us you've got a wound-"

"Oh for the love of Atmos! It's not a bite alright chief!" He barked back at Aerrow. A touchy issue indeed, so the trio wandered off to work on Piper's Tempus Crystallus plan.

That night things were as quiet as the night before. Stork, Aerrow and Piper found themselves reminising over the time when the whole team were together, and the old life when bumbaling Cyclonians were their real biggest threat. They laughed together as they retold old battles.

Aerrow's mind flickered to a rather unusual question. However it didn't remain in his mind for long as he didn't truely think it important, as the center of his question didn't concern him anymore.

The question was _I wonder if Dark Ace is alive?_

Those warm feelings of having a normal chat were obliterated once again, when Suzy Lu swung the door open, clinging to it with blood stained paws.

She was gasping for breath as she bent over to throw up. Everyone at the table could easily see the flesh that had been torn from her scalp.

When she spoke she was constantly being interupted by her struggle to breathe. The infection was spreading rapidly through her now weakened body. "He...he said...it was...nothing...to w...worry about..." She screamed in pain as she dropped to the floor, having a rather violent fit as she thrashed around in pain.

Before the change could even be made, the Merb had swung an axe through her head. He then kicked the body out of the room and closed it.

The Storm Hawks were now officially in battle stations as the shit once again hit the fan. Aerrow and Stork worked fast to block the door as best they could with house hold objects like chairs and drawers. Piper was busy rumaging through supplies as she conjured up a plan.

Outside the small safe room were worrying noises like screams, crashes and smashes. Because behind the feeble baracade, the deadly infection was flooding the brains and bodies of every Blizzarian who were in the building.

With weapons in hand and a petrified but determined look on each face. The group gathered around as they discussed the situation.

Stork started with "My guess is that most, if not all of them are turning. Oh yeah we're doomed!"

Aerrow hushed the Merb and asked Piper "Do we have any options? Because so far all I can think of his fleeing out the window!"

"Who's to say they won't follow us?" Stork asked.

"He's right." Piper said agreeing with Stork. "I only have one available plan that will kill all of the zombies in this base but..."

"Forget about consequences Piper what's the plan?!" Aerrow demanded with panic.

"I have two crystals that I've been tweaking, so that when brought into hard contact with each other they will erupt into a bomb! It should blow up this entire base."

"Piper that's brilliant!" Aerrow cheered.

The door was close to breaking point as the Blizzarian zombies fought hard to get in.

"But...it's not ready. I mean it will go off but obviously someone's got to activate it...and I haven't figured out how to give the bomb a timer. So...who ever sets it off..." She couldn't even bare to finish her sentence.

Each Storm Hawk looked at one another with sorrow. Losing another was going to be devastating, Piper was over whelmed with guilt for having such an awful plan. But it was all they had. Despite hungry corpses on the other side of the door, a moment's silence was unavoidable. Mainly because no one knew what to say.

Despite objecting to the statement constantly in the past they were infact just children, who had no idea how to deal with this tidal wave of emotions that arrived with every loss.

"I'm going to be the one who stays aren't I?" Stork said cooly, like he'd accepted his inevitable fate already.

"...Stork..." The couple said together in disbelief.

"Oh don't worry about me." He reassured them with that trademark paranoia still creating a quiver in his voice "You two will have the best chance anyway."

He continued but with a pinch of humour in his tone, as if he was trying to maintain that old team spirit. "Besides, don't think I didn't see you two love birds last night." Besides how could he not tease the two love puppies once before going?

Although in the past it would have been a hilarious moment to see the two blush an alarming shade of red. Not now, instead they looked at the merb with a thanking look in their eyes. Because Stork was sacrificing himself so they could be together.

It was almost out of character for him to be so bold, but maybe that was the new war maturing them into the adults that they were always posing as.

Before leaving him with the doom he obsessed over, one last group hug was made as the couple mourned for the beloved merb and said goodbye.

Escaping out the window with the Absolute Zeroe's collection of new weapons, they trudged through the snow as quickly and quietly as possible. Their hands locked tightly together as their hearts grieved for the team mate left behind.

Stork stood there, crystals in hand as the zombies powered by night's shadows began crashing through the door hold. It baffled Stork on how ruthless they were acting, but he didn't dwell on it. No point.

Just before it was too late, Stork had a brief moment in which he closed his yellow eyes, feeling afraid of what he was about to do.

He also felt lonely as he turned his gaze to the window that the love birds escaped from. Stork didn't want to leave the team of survivors so soon.

The words "...Good luck..." escaped his lips as he prepared himself for the end of his journey.

Just as the front of the crowd barged in Stork raised his hands. His mouth curled into a devilish grin as a feel of achievement surged through his body.

Giggling slighty the merb said to his foes "You're doomed."

OoO.

Well I certainly hope this was worth the wait! If you enjoyed please leave me a review :)


	10. Chapter 10

Well here we go guys the next chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it! ^^ I hope this was worth the wait too, sorry that I don't get them out earlier.

OoO.

The Dark Ace lay on his back with his crimson eyes closed. He felt a little dazed and confused, his eyes refused to reveal his position. But he didn't really care, his mind felt so placid, like all the troubles of the new war couldn't touch him, and he liked it.

He let his hands roam the surface in which he lay on, and surprisingly it was soft and warm, like a silky quilt cover. The thought of his own bed came to mind and it made him smile.

Suddenly he realised, he was hot. No not hot, he was boiling! Infact he began to find that his skin was soaking with sweat. However there was still no recollection as to where the hell he was.

"Dark Ace?" A husky voice called out to him, which sent shivers down his spine. It made him want to open his eyes to see who it was.

His soaking body jumped when he felt someone else's hand stroke down from his chest to his torso.

"Dark Ace?" The voice giggled "Wake up!" The voice was like music to his ears, and it left him desperate to see the owner.

Finally his eyes were granted permission to open, and when they did he was extremely shocked.

Lying close to his side with a leg draped over his lower region, and her hand still on his abs, was a rather satisfyed looking Ravess.

The man's evil eyes widened with shock as he stared in awe at her smiling face. His mind was completely blank, he couldn't form a conclusion and he sure as hell couldn't recall what they'd just been doing.

"R...Ravess?!" He swallowed as he still wasn't sure what was happening. "What's...where am I?!"

The archer merely shushed him with a finger placed gently on his lips, she then leant down so their noses were touching. Despite his hot state he still managed to feel his cheeks burn with embarrassment. "Just relax commandor." Her hand stroked his damp body again. He looked down to find that besides a blanket covering his lower half, he was naked.

His mind began to grasp the situation as he looked around. The room they were in was dim, apart from some candles scattered around the room. Ravess seemed to be close to naked too, as she had a blanket loosely wrapped around her body.

_Oh my God...did we actually?...Why don't I remember it!? _He was bewildered, but secretly content and he didn't know why. The Dark Ace had been with a lot of women for pleasure, but never before had he even considered having sex with Ravess.

"Dear lord you didn't get me drunk did you?!" He interrogated, his voiced cracking with worry. He respected this woman a lot, and the last thing he wanted was to be stuck in an inconvenient scenario like this with her.

She just grinned at him and answered "Of course not Dark Ace. You want this more than you know."

_Wait what?! I don't understand any of this, why isn't she being clear?! _He thought frantically.

The next thing he knew her lips were on his. They were quite rough with each other, like he was taking the distress he felt with this out on her. She kept grabbing his hands and placing them on her body, directing him to explore her, but he kept timidly refusing and retreating them back to the bed's surface. It still wasn't clear why he was doing this with her, and why of all times were they doing it now.

She began kissing and biting his neck, causing him to moan and occassionaly yelp with surprise. As she started working her way down his body, he was reminded of how sweaty, and uncomfortably hot he felt.

Before he knew it, her lips were close to his pride.

Suddenly his eyes snapped open, revealing the ceiling of the cave he had found sanctuary in. His breathing was heavy, although he wasn't sure if it was because of his dream or the temperature of his surroundings.

He began to recap his actions and recalled that with no where else to go he had climbed down to the wastelands, and snuck into a cave as nightfall arrived.

"Fuck why am I so hot?!" He exclaimed as he pulled his top off with desperation to cool down.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts. As he remembered his dream he felt extremely embarrassed with himself and still greatly confused. Not only questioning his sleeping partner, but he was also curious as to why he'd even dreamt something like that in the first place.

His dreams were always a reminder of past experiencs in his life, and they weren't enjoyable. Certainly not enjoyable enough to get him as hard as he was now. _Her confession must just be messing with my head. _He quickly concluded.

His hard on didn't last long as he looked over the edge of the cave, to find that the lava had risen to a dangerous height. _That explains why I'm over heating._

Much to his dismay the boiling lake was still slowly but surely rising. The Dark Ace found that the trail he used to get where he was now had flooded. His only means of escape was to scale the rocky wall. Not too far along there was a walkable path that was at a heigher level.

He had to act fast to survive, as he wasn't even sure how high up the lava would rise. It may even cover the path that he had his eyes on, but it was his only chance.

So he secured his belongings, especially the weapons, to his body and prepared to start climbing.

Ignoring the complaining from his stomach, the Cyclonian reached out to a ridge in the wall and held onto it. Praying that it wouldn't come away when he added his body weight. He edged the rest of his body from the foot of the cave, to the cliff side.

Success! This rock substance seemed to be stable. With that he began scaling across to his next destination.

Although it wasn't easy, he never expected it to be.

Dark Ace was nearing the path annoyingly too slow for his liking, but there was nothing he could do, he was starving and exhausted.

There was a loud splashing noise, followed by the scream of a lava serpant. With shock Dark Ace clenched the wall causing dust to crumble beneath his finger tips. He checked behind him to make sure he was still in a safe zone.

He wasn't.

Although the lake of lava itself still had a comfortable distance to break before it reached the Dark Ace's feet, there was now another threat that the Cyclonian really wasn't prepared for.

His eyes caught sight of a horrific lava beast staring right at him, and it wasn't far away. Wide eyed and panicked the Dark Ace began hastily making his way as fast as he could to the next level. He didn't have time to keep checking behind him, so he had to listen to the river of lava sloshing around as the snake beast slinked towards him.

He was close to the ledge now, but it was then when the snake like creature chose to strike. He wasn't within jumping distance, and he couldn't exactly run off. So instead he let go off his grip on the wall, and when he dropped down far enough, his hands scraped against the surface of the cliff to get a grip. The serpant had missed him completely, and went head first into the rock side, causing little pieces to fly all over the place.

While the predator shook off it's failed attempt at getting a meal, Dark Ace hung for dear life with one hand. While the other carefully pulled out his gun. Although the death of this creature wasn't garunteed it was all he had.

Just as it caught sight of the commandor again, Dark Ace aimed as best as he could given the situation he was in and fired. Luckily he shot in square in the eye, he always seemed to handle things better in life threatening situations.

The beast writhed in pain, splashing lava everywhere as blood seeped from the bullet hole. At which point Dark Ace was busy scrambling back up to reach the ledge.

He stretched his free arm up to reach the ledge and only just managed to grab it. His chest heaved as he began trying to pull himself up, but his feet were having a difficult time fixing onto a stable surface.

An ear aching scream that left the Talon's ears ringing came from the injured beast behind him. He turned his gaze to find that the serpant wasn't ready to back down yet.

He still had the gun in his hand so he did his best at aiming at it's face. But it wasn't an easy task when his life supporting hand was beginning to slip, and his feet were just hanging at this point.

None the less he fired and only just managed a head shot. Unfortunately the shot wasn't powerful enough to penertrate the skin properly. Although the serpant did look pretty shaken up.

Before Dark Ace could think up his next move the creature was charging forward at him. He turned his face back to the wall and tried to clamber up but it was useless. All he managed was to pull down some stones as he tried to get a grip.

Still seemingly knocked into a confused state however, the beast just head butted his back forcing him quick and hard into the rock he so desperately wanted to climb.

A little yelp escaped his lips as pain surged through him.

The serpant kept pushing Dark Ace into the wall, causing him to gasp in pain as jagged edges of the rock pressed against him. He began again to try and lift himself up to try and slip out of his predicament. Luckily the serpant was holding him against the wall, which made it easier to get a tighter grip.

He tried to break free, but when he did the creature pressed harder against him. It was becoming difficult to breathe now.

He awkwardly twisted his gun back in it's face and fired, preparing himself for the sudden release. As soon as it retracted he hurried to climb up.

He finally made it and was now on his hands and knees coughing violently, as his attempt to catch his breath resulted in him catching smoke.

He looked back over to find that the serpant was slinking away accepting defeat.

Panting as he struggled to his knees, he held his chest as the breathing pain stung him. "Is no where fucking safe anymore?!" He yelled feeling infuriated.

On constant surveillance now for more trouble, Dark Ace trecked along the derelict wastelands in hope of oppurtunity or something. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, he was just wandering aimlessly. Nothing was really motivating him at the moment. Up top he's prey, down here he was prey, if a monster didn't kill him the heat would.

He was so lost in a sea of his thoughts that he hadn't realised he'd tripped over until his face smacked the floor.

That's it! He was ready to scream with utter anger and frustration, this new life fucking sucked!

He stood up and proceeded to pick up the bastard object that made him trip, when he realised what it was.

"Is this a...mirage?" He asked himself. Inspecting every inch of it, he decided that it wasn't. Excitement for the idea of succession filled his eyes once more as he made a full turn in hopes of seeing the rest of this discared scrap.

Right in the corner of his eye a shard of metal caught his attention. He ran as fast as he could to it, tripping a little in the process.

There it was right before his eyes. A skimmer. A beaten up skimmer, but not beyond repairs. Infact it's condition wasn't too shabby, it must have setted down here not long ago.

He began right away trying his best to make it healthy again. Using anything he could.

There was still crystal energy in it so it would take off. Unfortunately it didn't have enough power to take off right there on the spot. His best shot at take off would be to get a driving start, then pray that he takes off before he plummets to the lava.

He mounted the damaged skimmer and started it up. The engine still wasn't as healthy sounding as what the elite talon was used to but it would do.

The rocky path was just wide enough to drive on. He just hoped the beaten up vehicle could cope with the rough terrain.

He drove down the path at a fast pace, constantly checking the meter to see if it was powered up enough.

Still driving, Dark Ace pulled down on the lever to release the wings. They came out successfully, but he didn't take off.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed as he got closer to the edge.

Just as Dark Ace neared the edge, a lava serpant erupted from it's depths and lunged forward at him. He evaded it just as he went over the edge.

Just as he neared the river of fire the crystal energy picked up and he soared.

Although he was still surrounded by the walls of the deathly wastelands. That feeling of excitement rushed through his tired body once again as he raced through, dodging boiling geysers and deadly predators.

His famous laugh escaped his smiling lips, as the Talon enjoyed every minute of the one man race against peril. He swooped under rock arches and dodged every beast and lava spew that crossed his path, but he knew it couldn't last. As much as he could easily have spent hours daring himself to fly even closer to his own death, he had to fly back into the world that only offered misery. There was nothing of real value to him down here, he needed to find a safe haven on a terra somewhere in which he knew no harm would come to him. At least he knew not even the zombies would cross the wastelands if they could help it.

His tattered new skimmer coughed and spewed out black smoke as it tried to keep up with Dark Ace's flight demands.

He was now back in the sky, soaring through the night. He let out a slow sigh and smiled to himself. What a perfect night to fly, not even the engine's struggling noises could annoy him.

He had no idea where he was but he didn't care, for that moment in time he was happy, as he let the cool air blow through his slightly messy black hair.

Suddenly his eyes caught sight of something flying his way at an alarming speed. It still had some distance before it could come into contact with him, so Dark Ace took the oppurtunity to pull out of it's way. Unfortunately it seemed he'd been working the skimmer too hard, as it refused to obey his commands on time.

Before he knew it, what looked like a kitchen sink crashed into the side of his ride. And that was it, he was plummeting down to his doom. As the misty clouds cleared the further he fell, he realised that he was going to hit a terra...oh joyful it was Terra Gale. The last thing he needed was to be stuck with these fucking lunatics.

The Cyclonian pulled up with all his might, but the wrecked skimmer continued falling at a dangerous speed, releasing a crying noise that only suggested it had given up. He couldn't even tell how far from the ground he was, as sickly thick smoke coming from the engine was clouding his judgement. He coughed violently and proceeded to try standing up on his ride so he could leap off.

He greatly misjudged the timing though, because as soon as he leapt he hit dirt. Skidding hard on the ground then rolling roughly until he came to a hard stop.

The Dark Ace lay there on his back, groaning from the throbbing pain now invading his body. His mind was repeating the whirrling sensation that came when he crashed over and over, his arms were throbbing, his face was covered in dirt, he had a scatch across his nose and had blood dripping down from the side of his head.

The last thing he could remember was a French accent yelling something, but it was a fuzzy blur. He wrapped his arm around his chest and held his side as it burned with pain.

OoO.

"Papa, it looks like he iz waking up." A stern female voice said. His vision was blurred but he could here the young girl's voice was close to him.

The voice was kind of comforting, a light smile crept on his face. Until he felt something hard bang his head with a clang. There was a chuckle then another bang on the head.

"Wake up you Cyclonian dog!" That was a gruff voice. Dark Ace knew exactly where he was. In that crappy little hut with those pathetic excuses for people, the Rebel Ducks.

The words "Fan-fucking-tastic" managed to creep past his lips.

"Ah ha so ze scum iz awake!" The old voice said.

They ordered him to get up. To fool them into thinking he wasn't in a weakened state, he struggled to sit up, grinding his teeth to endure the agony.

He found that his hands were tied and the two of them were threatening him with pans. Dark Ace rolled his eyes _how pathetic. _

The squadren were no where to be seen or heard, so he figured they mustn't be on the Terra.

Before the commandor could come up with something clever to say, the old man spoke up, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. "Alright you Cyclonian dog! Don't you try anything, we have weaponz and we are not afraid to use them!"

"Wow pans, I am so fucking terrified for my life right now." In response Dove smacked him on the head with the pan she was holding, deliberately not hard enough to knock him out though. It did send him dizzy but he tried not to show a reaction.

"So, where's the rest of your people?" Dark Ace questioned sternly, expecting an answer despite clearly being a prisoner.

Surprisingly Dove answered him "If you must know, zey left when zis infection thing started...and zey still have not returned."

_Hm stupid twats must be dead. _Dark Ace decided to himself.

"Enough with zis friendly banter!" Wren barked, pushing the pan in Dark Ace's face, making his expression twist in disgust. "You Cyclonian swine will tell us what zis infection thing is, and how we keep ourselvez zafe!"

"Ha! What makes you think I'd help your worthless asses?"

"Because if you don't we will throw you into ze wastelands!" Considering he'd just survived and emerged from there, this didn't seem like much of a threat. However throw him into a pile of zombies, now that would be a reason to sweat. Then he realised _Shit! Where the fuck are my weapons?! These theiving bastards must have swiped them. _

The Rebel Ducks were useless at two things: weaponary and holding people captive. The moment Dark Ace had sat up he had been working on wriggling his hands free.

"Oh...well in that case I'll tell you everything I know, just please spare my life!" He pleaded with them. The two looked at each other triumphantly, as promised Dark Ace gave them every bit of information he had.

Wren and Dove once again looked at each other, then back at the Cyclonian and smiled. "Good!" Wren said "Just a shame we were going to throw you to ze wastelands anyway!"

Both him and his granddaughter held Dark Ace from either side. He rised to his feet and said cooley "Yeah, I know."

With that he pulled his hands free and punched Dove to the floor, knocking her unconscious. He then turned to the short old man and kicked him sqaure in the face, ensuring that he too was knocked out he gave him another kick.

Finding his weapons didn't take long, they were only in the next room.

He devilishly waited for his captors to wake up, so he could enjoy his victory with the look of failure on their faces.

They woke up, both sitting against the wall. Dark Ace mockingly didn't even bother tying them up, that would be giving them too much credit.

He smirked as they stood up, fear in their eyes now that they were at his mercy.

He stalked towards them with his katana. He pointed it in Wren's face, no words were exchanged, there was no need for them. Everyone in the room knew exactly where they stood in this situation, attempts at negotiation would be wasted on this cruel man.

Dark Ace moved his gaze from the old man to the young girl. She stared back, scared but determined to hold his gaze no matter what. The evil inside of him burned brightly in his red eyes as the hand with the katana lunged forward quick and hard.

Her eyes widened with shock the moment her grandfather's life was taken. He chuckled at her misery. He didn't care, whether there was a new enemy or not, the two sides were still at war. It had been a while since he'd acted so fiendish towards an innocent face, and he was thrilled by every moment.

He slowly brought the blade up to Dove's neck, savouring her panic for just another moment, he slit her throat and let her drop to the floor.

Dumping the bodies in the wastelands, he retreated back to the small house to retrieve his weapons then get the hell out of here. He was in no rush though, it was clear to see that this small hold was zombie free.

Then it hit him. Warmth, shelter, zombie free and completely empty.

As he stood in the doorway he sighed from the irony. This crappy little hut would now be home.

OoO.

Ooh Dark Ace was a very bad man at the end huh? Killing people that are not zombies? Well what do you expect that man's evil and it's survival of the fittest in this new war XP anyway what did you think? if you enjoyed it please review and I'll try to release the next chapter soon!


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello my darling readers and reviewers! Bet you weren't expecting my lazy ass to write and upload a new chapter so quickly! God knows why I decided to start writing the next chapter like a couple of hours after I released chapter 10 but hey who's complaining right? With any luck I'll be uploading future chapters just as quick although I tend to doubt it so don't quote me on this ;) Anyway I hope you enjoy chapter 11 of the new war! **

**I was watching the walking dead on friday and I thought how epic would it be if you could like put theme songs and stuff in fanfics? An idiot's dream I know but still I'd love to play the walking dead theme for each of these chapters, call me crazy but I think it would be brilliant XD **

**seriously why are you still reading the author's note? I'm just rambling at this point and you could be reading about Piper and Aerrow trying to survive Terra Blizzarus.**

It's funny because I'm supposed to be looking for a job but I'm writing fanfiction instead XD Leaving school hasn't matured me at all has it? XD lol I feel like we know each other a bit better since I just told you that I'm unemployed...because I'm assuming that you're even still reading the authors note. If you are then then good for you but you you're as bad a time waster as me XD

OoO.

The regular snowfall of Terra Blizzarus drifted lightly down from the sky the morning after the couragous Merb's death. It fell lightly on Piper and Aerrow's slightly tinted cheeks, as the chilly climate tickled their skin.

After Stork had selflessly given his life for his surving team mates, the trek through the snow had been exhausting for the young leader and his beautiful crystal mage. Not to mention terrifying, as it was pitch black and with every branch that crunched from a distance gave the two the impression that a zombie was close by.

After making some distance from the now blown up base of the absolute Zeroes, Aerrow and Piper decided to spend the cold night up in a tree.

The crystal mage wrinkled her nose as a snow flake melted against her warm skin. Her eyes slowly peeled open, however they were wide eyed the minute she saw how high she was. It took her a couple of seconds to recollect last night's actions.

They chose to sleep on the same branch. To ensure that she would be as warm as possible, Aerrow slept behind Piper with his back against the tree trunk, and was cuddling Piper who sat comfortable in between his legs.

She carefully turned around to admire the Sky Knight, smiling thoughtfully at his cute appearance. His hair blew softly in the wind, and his face looked so peaceful and untroubled by the horrors that awaited him when he woke up.

She could sit like this with him till the end of time, but alas they had a job to do. And it was extremely vital that they accomplished this new mission.

Naturally she would shake him delicately awake and say good morning with a friendly smile. But then she decided at this point she had nothing to lose, and she figured the gesture would be appreciated. So she leant down and kissed his dry cool lips until he awakened, she then greeted him with a timid smile and a pleasant blush.

Aerrow knew exactly where they were, but recreated the same shocked expression as Piper when she first woke up. His face turned the same colour as his hair as he tried to think of a rational way to respond to Piper without looking like a love struck idiot.

In the end he managed to give a pleased smile and giggled a little as he said "Morning" to her. She chuckled back with a bashful "Hello."

Then Aerrow did something unbelievably impulsive, although after doing so he had no regrets. Before Piper could sit back up so they could climb down, he quickly grabbed another kiss from her and savoured her beautiful lips for as long as possible.

"Wow um what was that for?" Piper asked, trying to hide her excitement.

"Well I missed most of the first kiss." Aerrow answered cooley with a cheeky smile.

After climbing down from the tree and shuddering at the sudden sting of the snow on her feet, Piper took something from her bag and handed it to Aerrow.

"Why are you giving the map to me?" He asked, rather confused as to why the squadren's navigator was giving away something that she was best at.

She hesitated before answering, as if she didn't want to hear it out loud. "Because...if something happens you're faster than me and, well you'd have a better chance than me."

"Piper don't say that!"

"Don't worry Aerrow, I've marked all the Terras that will hold the crystals we need."

"You know that's not what I meant." He told her looking upset.

She grimaced and said "...I know..." then began walking to find the edge of the Terra, so they could escape Blizzarus.

Fear of the unknown made both teenagers want to run until they knew they were safe, but that was a fool's plan. They had to save as much energy as possible incase the worst happened.

After what must have been a fair few hours Piper And Aerrow were still trying to navigate their way through the forest.

Exhausted after trudging through thick snow all day, the two decided to take a break. As lovely as it would have been to recharge with a nice collection of snacks, they unfortunately had nothing. The only thing they'd ran out with were the new weapons. They both had one gun each at the ready, and they both had back packs with a few more guns inside.

They sat side by side, ignoring the uncomfortable chill on their behinds.

Aerrow swallowed, then looked at Piper who was gazing up at the light snow fall.

"Piper?" She looked at him and gave a charming smile, which caused his cheeks to heat up.

His stomach fluttered and his heart began to pound in his chest. It was about time that he finished that sentence during the night of their first kiss. Now they were alone together and it felt like it was now or never. He knew she knew, but he had to say the actual words to her.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I...I love you." Her face lit up when she heard the words pass his lips.

She giggled a little before saying "I love you too Aerrow."

They smiled, lost in each other's eyes, casting the rest of the world away. Before they knew it, they were kissing again. They were too happy to care, it felt like they'd been through hell since this infection erupted, and it could only get worse. So they gave themselves this moment, before they started the enormous quest that would trouble them for all their time and effort.

The calm snowfall had turned into a fierce blizzard, so they finally parted.

As if embarrassed that they'd just stepped into a serious relationship. They laughed weakly and looked away from each other, but there was never any regret. Aerrow stared at his knees, despite wanting to get up and go, the blizzard held him down.

Piper was looking into the distance. Smiling away as she kept replaying what she just engaged in. She caught sight of something that didn't seem too far away, but the storm was shrouding it. Her grin was slowly erased when she came to the realisation of what it was.

"...AERROW!" She yelled with the quick rush of panic. He turned to follow her gaze and spotted the problem. Facing their direction, with cold dead eyes and a monsterous appetite was a zombiefied Blizzarian.

They scrambled to their feet before the killer decided to pounce. With no clue as to where they were heading, the young couple sprinted through, struggling against the strong weather. Their hands were firmly locked to ensure they didn't get split up.

They had no idea if the beast was still behind them, it was impossible to check, for all they knew they could be one trip away from it devouring them.

The next thing they knew, adrenaline filled their bodies as they felt like they were falling. The Storm Hawks had ran straight over the edge. Luckily it didn't lead to the wastelands. It was only a small cliff side, so they hit more snow.

However the real edge of the Terra wasn't at all far away.

The blizzard had eased off.

Recovering from the fall as fast as possible Aerrow and Piper looked around to evaluate their safety. The area seemed clear but they were anything but relaxed.

"Are you OK?" The leader hastily asked.

"Yeah, yeah I'm OK. Are you?"

"I think so."

"Phew good. Oh Aerrow look!" The crystal expert exclaimed and pointed excitedidly towards some skimmers not too far away.

But before they could set off once more. A zombie jumped out before them, a yelp of shock escaped the pair's lips.

It began stalking towards them with only hunger in it's eyes, that only flesh and blood could satisfy.

Aerrow felt hesitant about killing zombies, mainly because they used to be people he knew, respected, befriended, admired. It made it really difficult to point a weapon in the faces of people he used to protect. It made him feel like something he hated, like he was becoming what he stood against.

But the moment it took a step towards the love of his life, his gun was pulled out and aimed at it's face.

He fired, but missed. _Where's Finn when you need him?! _The sky knight thought to himself as he fired again. This time it hit, but only the shoulder. Third time was the charm as he finally managed the head shot.

Both teens were so fixated on the zombie infront, that they hadn't noticed another one creeping up from behind.

It grabbed Piper's shoulder, causing her to struggle and trip over. Aerrow kicked it off his girlfriend then fired a clean shot to it's head.

He hurried to help her to her feet. "Piper! Please tell me you're OK!"

She checked herself over then smiled at him. "Yeah I'm fine, it didn't get me."

Coming from the ledge that they fell from, another zombie leapt down in the hope of a meal. It landed between the couple, forcing them to part ways in order to evade it's hideous clutches. Soon more were following it's lead until there was a dangerous number of Blizzarian monsters.

Piper headed for a few rocks that were high and wide enough for her to hide behind, but could also be a good place to fire from. It wasn't exactly a full proof fort but it was better than standing in the open.

Aerrow however had no choice but to flee up a bare tree. His wet boots slipped on a few branches as he raced to get as high as possible.

Piper easily got rid of a few that were bothering her, however she used up all of her bullets in the process. "I've got to reload!" She told herself as she began rummaging through her rucksack. _Oh no...Aerrow's got the extra ammo..._

She timidly peeped over the rock to find that the zombies were attracted to something else.

It was Aerrow, who was currently finishing off his ammo too, by keeping the dreadful predators away. But there were too many for him to handle.

His hands shook with panic as he struggled to get his bag off, he needed more ammo fast! In between his ammo searches, he was kicking a zombie away who was determined to climb up after him. The last kick he performed knocked it down, but as he immediately went back to finding the ammo, he failed to notice that the zombie prevented itself from falling again by hanging onto a branch.

"AERROW!" Piper screamed to warn him. He looked across at her, then down to find the ambitious zombie grabbing his foot.

Despite them currently hunting by sound, Piper's scream only attracted one zombie. As the othes were too busy trying to grab the sound of the boy who was yelling and grunting. Piper managed to fend the zombie coming for her easily, by bashing it's head with a nearby rock.

Before it could try getting a bite Aerrow smacked it hard with the ruck sack. Luckily it fell, but the hard blow caused Aerrow's hold on the bag to loosen. As his arms swung after hitting the zombie, he accidently threw the bag to the floor.

"No!" Piper gasped to herself.

She watched as Aerrow struggled to get higher. Her stomach churned until it hurt, she was absolutely terrified. She was so afraid to die, but she loved Aerrow too much to see him fall victim to those walking corpses. She also knew that deep in her heart what she said earlier was true, he did have a better chance, he was faster and stronger.

While Aerrow managed to keep them at bay as best he could, Piper ran as quickly as her legs would carry her to the edge of the Terra.

She then turned to the crowd and yelled, screamed, clapped. Soon she got the zombie's attention and her plan was in motion. So they began to stalk towards her, their ears on full alert to listen for the sound of dinner.

Aerrow stared at her in disbelief, he only managed to whisper the words "Piper no..."

He couldn't let het go. Not now, not ever. Since the area below was now clear, Aerrow rushed down the tree so he could run for his bag. _Please don't let it be too late! _The sky Knight pleaded as they got closer to his beloved Piper.

Now that they were as close as she wanted, the navigator began her next part of the plan. She jumped up and down, each time landing as hard as she could, in the hopes of crumbling the edge of the Terra so it would break off.

Aerrow leapt to reach his bag quicker. The moment he grabbed the handle, he looked up to check that his girlfriend was still there.

She looked over at him and smiled, a tear of sorrow falling from her cheek. "You can do it Aerrow!"

He was too late. She made her final jump and caused the edge to break away. Sending her and the mob of corpses falling to their deaths.

Tears ran from his eyes when he lost sight of her. He screamed "No!" for as long as his lungs would allow him. He fell to his knees, his tears creating multiple spots in the snow. What was happening to the world?! How could he lose Piper? The heart of the condor, the brains behind every Storm Hawk accomplishment...his true love.

After a couple of minutes of grieving with heavy tears and imagining a life without her, Aerrow's brows furrowed with determination. "No...I haven't lost her, because I'm going to bring her back!" His words weren't a longing hope, they were an undying promise to himself and her.

He marched through the snow towards ones of the skimmers and mounted it.

Taking off he realised that he was all alone now and it scared him a little. Of course he was brave and daring, but this was a mission like no other, and it was going to take ages.

He had no Stork to take him to each Terra, no Finn and Junko to back him up, no Radar to offer support and now, no Piper to guide him.

All he had was the knowledge of the starting point: Terra Atmosia.

OoO.

Oh dear poor Aerrow is all alone :/ do you guys think he will survive? let me know with a review. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter written as quick as I finished this one ^^ fingers crossed.


	12. Chapter 12

*gets on hands and knees* I'm really sorry for taking so long guys DX I don't know why I've been procrastinating like a bitch but never mind chapter 12 is finally here! Phew -w-. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I REALLY hope it was worth the wait :/

I'd ramble like usual but if you do take the time to read my pointless authors notes then thanks but I won't waste your time so you can get on with this chapter :)

OoO.

His sweaty head whipped from side to side on the pillow, his face twisting from the pain of memories that his dreams had once again revived. The word "No!" passed his lips with a gasp as if he were in agony, like he was pleading with his mind to end the mental torture.

His eyes snapped open as he finally woke. The sun blazed through the flimsy curtains and down on his face, causing him to turn into the pillow. The Dark Ace's morning protest didn't last long though, he had to get up and finish organising his new, but pathetic, base.

There wasn't much to the tiny windmill home. When first entering through the front door, there's a living area with a round wooden dining table, and a small couch placed to the side against a wall. Beside that is a small kitchen area for simple meals to be cooked. There are two other rooms, they used to be bedrooms, but Dark Ace had converted them into storage rooms for food and weapons. Up some creaky stairs was a bedroom with a double bed, which the Cyclonian had claimed for himself. To the right of the bedroom was a tacky bathroom with a shower and toilet, although the water supply wasn't top notch.

The two rooms that he had assigned as storage rooms for weapons and food desperately needed to be stocked up. And that was where he was going today: shopping.

Thanks to the Rebel Ducks there were four skimmers ready to use in a an even smaller garage attached to the so called house, each with plenty of crystal supplies. When the squadren had flown off to help they must have taken a carrier instead.

He packed some back up crystals and mounted a skimmer with his katana, a gun and a duffle bag.

The plan was to fly to Terra Atmosia and collect necesseties there. He chose Atmosia because it wasn't too far away and it would most likely be easier to slip in and out with open streets and buildings, not to mention it had a big shopping area. He would've preferred Cyclonia but the way it was when he evacuated, his guess was that it must be crawling with zombies. He'd take that risk when he needed to, if he needed to.

OoO.

Over looking the center of the town, Dark Ace could see that there was a large amount of zombies wandering the streets. _Nothing I can't handle. _He reassured himself as he prepared to land.

Parking on the outskirts, away from the buildings, Dark Ace pulled his katana out and headed for a nearby alley.

He knew exactly where he needed to be. Sneaking in the shadows Dark Ace raced through the darkened alleys, passing the odd zombie that was close. He had no trouble sending his blade through them as he skipped by.

The Commandor tried not to let paranoia and fear get the better of him everytime he heard a discarded newspaper swoosh by with the wind. Sometimes he would be the one making the noise, kicking a littered can, causing him to jump out of his skin in the process. He felt pathetic. _Thank God no one was here to see that._

Apart from the odd occurance like that, the Talon reached the building with no trouble.

It was basically a supermarket. Or more like an abandoned supermarket now, complete with blood stained floors, the odd item smashed on the floor and lights flashing.

From pipes to bottles of beer, if he passed a possible weapon he'd grab it. But at the moment he was starving and had to rely on adrenaline alone to fight how weak he felt. Of course now he was free to snatch from the shelves and satisfy that hunger. It felt amazing.

There was the odd zombie struggling through the aisles. The Dark Ace gave a mischevius smirk as he decided to add a little variety to his day and smash their heads with different objects, like glass bottles and wrecked wood. Took a little longer, but hey the man needed stress relief every now and then.

The commandor had never set foot in a supermarket before, and for the first time since it began, he was so thankful for the apocalypse. No loud mothers, no whiney brats, no ques, no aggrovation. Just an epic trolley dash.

With a duffle bag now full of supplies, Dark Ace headed back out the way he came.

Pulling the back door open he was greeted by about ten flesh eating corpses, all rushing to get to him first. Without another thought Dark Ace slammed the door on their mangled faces and made his way to the front entrance.

There were way more at the front, but they were spread out around the streets, which would make it easier to get past.

With caution and his senses on high alert, he slowly opened the front entrance of the shop. However his stealth skills didn't matter, as the door had a bell on it which chimed through the quiet streets, alerting any zombie that was close enough to hear.

The streets of Atmosia were now beginning to fall to ruin. Those who hadn't fallen victim to the walking corpses had fled the Terra leaving behind wreckage. The odd building looked like it had caught fire, and there was crashed skimmers and rubble laying around in random places.

It didn't phase the ruthless Talon one bit though. With a smirk curled on his face and a devilsh tint in his eyes. He leapt forward and jabbed his sword deep into the eye of the closest zombie. The corpse dropped to the floor as he pulled it out, blood splattering across his arm and the concrete.

He began to run down the street on light feet, sleighing any of the monsters that crossed his path.

When he reached the end of the street he began to remember why he'd taken the alleys: there were too many able to wander into the open. A few were now blocking his path so he turned back around, planning to slip away down an alley.

There were more around now compared to when he first landed. He had no choice but to spend some time here killing zombie after zombie, there wasn't much else he could do.

He had a voice barking an order in his mind and it never left. D_on't get yourself cornered! _And he obeyed as best he could. He made sure that never more than one got too close.

The Dark Ace longed to whip his gun out and really show these zombies who was boss, plus he was tired and firing would take less effort. But he didn't want to attract more attention.

Back and forth to different sides of the streets in the middle of a crowd, slicing and stabbing one ugly mother fucker after another. He never let his gaurd down, he would maintain that killer instinct until it was over, or at least when he was sure he had more slack.

His ears were his main asset. He kept listening for footsteps that drew closer to him, in which he would turn on his heel and head towards it.

After killng another one he heard rather light footed steps behind him. He quickly turned on his feet, katana at the ready.

When he swung around, his blade clashed. Clashed with something else.

It was a long metal pipe covered with blood. And holding that pipe was a determined but fearful looking Aerrow.

Dark Ace's mouth had dropped as he stared in astonishment at the young boy.

Aerrow couldn't believe it, his nemesis standing before him. Looking as shocked as he was.

It had stunned both for a couple of seconds, but it felt like forever. The realisation that they were not alone. Even if they were rivals there was something refreshing about seeing one and other.

"...Aerrow?!"

"...Dark Ace?!..."

Saying each other's name was all they could manage at that point. There was a bit of uncertainty for both Sky Knight and Cyclonian. Were they still enemies in this circumstance? Should they just continue what they were doing and go seperate ways?

Aerrow's eyes widened and he yelled "Look out!"

Dark Ace's eyes widened in response and he quickly turned with his sword, slicing the walking corpse that was creeping up on him. The Talon was pissed at himself that he hadn't noticed on his own, he sure as hell didn't need that little brat saving him.

With all the blood shed that Aerrow had recently witnessed, he was expecting that to be the end of his enemy. But no, quick as lightning Dark Ace had eliminated the zombie with an awesome looking sword. He was pretty impressed, although he probably shouldn't have expected any different.

With the ice broken, both warriors gave one last glance, nodded lightly and began to get rid of the remaining zombies who were walking the streets. Like a truce for a short time.

At this point Aerrow was firing his gun at the remaing zombies, Dark Ace continued with his katana. Part of him was telling him to join in with the gun fire, but his ego convinced him to keep showing off with his beautiful new blade.

The finally attacker in sight fell, leaving both knights stood feeling a little confused as to what just happened. Did they seriously just team up and work together?

_Regardless. _Dark Ace thought. _It's over now and I'm not going to spend another minute with the kid. _

Aerrow was so happy and relieved to have found and survived another day with a familiar face...OK fair enough it was Dark Ace but still! He had the crystal he needed from this Terra and he was one step closer to saving his friends. And that's when it occured to him. _So far, I've only made it out alive each time because of my team mates. I can't do this alone...I still find it hard to kill a zombie...because deep down they're the people I cared about. I need someone to back me up, someone to help me complete this mission. The chances of success will be higher that way. I wonder if I could convince him...hell I can't believe I'm considering this myself! But I've got to do it...for Piper._

Dark Ace began to storm off towards his skimmer. Aerrow watched him walk off, a little lost for words. Finally his legs loosened up and he ran after the Talon. When he stopped the Dark Ace he did not look amused.

"OK...call me crazy. But I think it would be a good idea for us to team up."

"What?!" Dark Ace exclaimed "You can't be serious."

"Think about it, we're both brilliant fighters! If we became partners, at least for now, we could double our chances of survival."

"Wow Aerrow you're right. You are crazy!"

"C'mon you can't seriously think you'd be better off alone do you?"

"Forget it Aerrow! How pathetic are you? I've gotten on fine so far. It's not my fault if you can't handle it, so the hell am I going to baby sit you and your friends. Despite everything that's happened I'm still a Cyclonian and you're still a Sky Knight!" He continued with his angry march.

Aerrow didn't know what was posessing him to keep badgering the man, but he continued trying to pursuade. "For your information I'm the only one left!" That really stung to say that, but sounding weak wouldn't help here.

Still walking, the Dark Ace yelled back. "I don't care!" Seriously why wouldn't the little brat just fuck off? Was he that terrified? Shouldn't surprise him really, this just proved that he was the stronger opponent out of the two.

"But I've got new weapons, perfect for zombie killing!"

"Go away!"

"Dark Ace please wait, I...I know how to cure the infection!" That was his last shot at grabbing the grumpy Talon's attention. Strangely enough the moment he'd said it, Dark Ace had stopped in his tracks.

The young boy's statement played over and over in his mind. Was he serious? Could the obnoxious Sky Knight truely hold the knowledge to cure something as deadly as this? All the anger had evapourated, now there was merely hope in his mind and it showed in his crimson eyes.

He turned his head towards where Aerrow stood for a little reassurance.

Yes he looks interested! Time to reel him in, so Aerrow continued with "But I need your help!"

The Cyclonian stood in that stance for a minute. _Shit! _He thought, there were so many contradictions soaring through his mind. Aerrow of all people was not the first candidate he wanted to willingly survive with, however it would mean he could cure Ravess...and others too probably. But their bitter rivalry was sure to create a never ending spiral of disagreements and problems. Although, Aerrow wasn't useless and he was a 'do gooder', so the chance of betrayal was slim, and nothing was stopping him from double crossing Aerrow in the near future.

Dark Ace began to retreat hastily back to Aerrow, he had that don't-fuck-with-me look, and he was burning Aerrow with his glare, which seemed to increase for the young boy as the Talon drew closer.

Dark Ace grabbed Aerrow's collar bone and held on tightly with his firm grip. Their faces so close. Dark Ace looked down on him with a scolding stare, as if the Sky Knight were his prisoner and they were in the middle of an interrogation. "You better not be lying Aerrow, or I swear to God!"

Dark Ace looked truly fierce, but Aerrow wasn't going to be intimidated by him. Despite everything he was still the same Cyclonian who regularly fell victim to his ass kickings. "Chill out! Of course I'm telling the truth! Like I'd make up an excuse to partner up with you."

The Dark Ace growled then released the young boy, and took a few steps back. Bluntly he asked "So tell me how it's done." He wasn't barking anymore but his tone was still hostile.

"It's too complicated to explain it all here, but I guess in a nut shell, I've got to travel around Atmos and collect crystals." Usually giving this kind of information to his enemy would be down right stupid, but Aerrow could see no reason that the Talon could possibly have to want to sabotage the mission. "Given the importance of the situation I was hoping I wouldn't have to do it alone. Are you in?"

Are you in? Pretty blunt question for something so complex, unfortunately the answer would be just as simple. Either work together and double the chances or split off and attempt the lonely survival.

Aerrow stood before his enemy presenting himself in a way that gave him a feeling of betrayal, he had his hand out to the Talon in hope that he would shake in agreement.

_Would you guys approve of this? _He asked the fallen Storm Hawks.

Dark Ace looked at the boy then smiled, a tiny chuckle managing to escape. His eyes never leaving Aerrow, he pulled out one of his guns and pointed it at the teen.

The Sky Knight's eyes widened, but before he could react the Dark Ace fired.

Aerrow flinched but felt nothing, he merely heard something drop behind him. He turned to see a fallen zombie too close for comfort with a fresh hole through it's head.

"Lets go." That scary act of kindness and cold order were probably the closest things Aerrow would get to the Dark Ace agreeing. He smiled to himself with relief then hurried to catch up.

As they walked together there was an uncomfortable silence, and it was beginning to sink in for both of them that they were actually partners now. It felt so surreal, especially when they both realised Dark Ace had actually saved Aerrow's life. Dark Ace hated himself for that, he always would. But acting incredible like that was certainly a lot easier than saying 'yeah I'm in' to the one boy he hated most.

They reached Dark Ace's stolen skimmer first, he mounted it then said in an irritated voice. "OK, so where are we going to meet tomorrow?" He ended up finishing his question with his eyes subconsciously steering away and into the distance. He didn't see this truce lasting very long. No, not very long at all.

"Huh meet?"

"Look Aerrow, just because we're in a truce, doesn't mean we have to act like team mates or some shit like that all the time. At the end of the day I'll go my way and you go yours. Understood?"

Aerrow grimaced, then looked down as he admitted "Well I don't have any where to go..."

Dark Ace's brows furrowed and he gritted his teeth "So what? You just thought you'd join me?"

"C'mon Dark Ace at least put me up for the night. If anyone sees me just explain the situation to Cyclonis."

Dark Ace's expression changed as he too grimaced. "I wasn't going to Cyclonia. It belongs to the dead now."

Aerrow felt kind of bad for the guy, Dark Ace looked genuinly sad, and he of all people knew how it hurt to lose one of your own. "Oh...I'm sorry. So how many of you are left?"

With regret in his tone he answered "Just me."

Eyes widened Aerrow asked "Not even Cyclonis?" The Talon merely shook his head, that failure feelng beginning to refreshen in his mind.

OoO.

After another painfully lagging awkward silence, the two finally reached Terra Gale with the pale moon beginning to rise.

Skidding to a hault, Aerrow finally broke the silence. "Wait this is Dove and Wren's home, why are we here?"

"This is currently my home." Dark Ace answered nonchalantly.

"But what about Dove, Wren, the Rebel Ducks?"

"They're dead."

"...You found them that way?" Aerrow asked suspisciously, his face turning into a judging scowl.

Dark Ace turned to the teen and answered his question with a mere cruel smirk.

Aerrow felt rage bubble up inside of him. "You bastard!"

"If you don't like it leave! Good riddens!" The Talon snapped back, hoping that Aerrow really would leave.

The Sky Knight stood there for a second, rethinking his survival plans. _Just remember, when you turn back time they'll come back. _With that Aerrow released a burdened sigh and carried on walking towards the little hut.

For the first time in their lives Aerrow the Sky Knight and Dark Ace the Cyclonian, sat together at the chipped wooden table with maps, discussing plans and tactics in a some what civil manner.

Aerrow explained Piper and Stork's plan as accurately as possible, the Cyclonian seemed convinced and with that he agreed to help. However he hadn't ruled out the secret plan of treachery if need be.

They then went over each weapon they had and how many supplies they had between them. Enough for a few days. They also discussed their current knowledge on the walking corpses.

Part of their plans was to hopefully sneak back to Terra Bogaton and swipe a few more deadly weapons and ammunition.

Every helpful and civil word spoken to the other made them feel like a traitor to the side they fought for. This whole thing felt wrong. But it could only get better, or worse.

OoO.

Holy shit you guys! Did you see that coming? No seriously did you? I was hoping their partnership would be somewhat of a shocking moment. So let me know if it is and share your thoughts on their truce!

dark ace: well Ill share mine it's fucking ridiculous! Like I really need the little twats help!

Aerrow: Yeah I don't really like where this is going either

me: Too bad! Now get in bed together!

Dark Ace & Aerrow: What?! O . O

me: hehe you'll see : )


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi guys MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! sorry it's been so long (you've heard that before right?)**

**"So yeah I have decided to write a fan fic for every holiday." You know who said that? Yeah yours truly :/ I can't believe how long that lasted. So to make up for not writing a christmas fic or anything um picture everyone in this chapter in santa hats ;) lol jk**

**anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter I'm sorry if it's not worth the wait.**

**I hope you all had a good christmas and new year :)**

**OoO.**

Tomorrow morning Aerrow and Dark Ace would fly out to Terra Clockstopia and retrieve the crystal that powers the time pulse. It was no problem, given that a back up for the time pulse had been made ever since the incident in which the Cyclonians tried to take it over. Hopefully there would be no zombies on the terra. Just go in, get out. Easy.

They figured the most important crystal to get would be the one that runs time.

When the time was right the two would hopefully venture out back to Terra Bogaton for more weapons and ammunition. They needed it, but not right now.

But that wasn't the problem at the current point in time. There was a bigger issue now and it sent both sick. It was probably the biggest problem they'd ever faced.

It was time to sleep. And there was only one bed between them.

Stood side by side, they slowly turned their gaze to each other. When they were caught in each other's sights they snapped their heads away.

Dark Ace quickly said "I'm not sleeping on the floor."

Aerrow retorted just as quick "Well I'm not either."

After some sighs of discomfort and grunts of annoyance the two finally got in bed together, with only their underwear to keep them respectable. The uniforms were too dirty to sleep in.

They kept elbowing and kicking each other as they attempted to get comfy in the bed. It wasn't exactly the largest double. They restrained from speaking or commenting on anything as they lay there, that would have just made the situation worse.

Settled down facing away from each other, Dark Ace and Aerrow forced their eyes shut to hopefully sink into sleep sooner rather than later.

As Aerrow lay there with nothing but each other's breaths to break the silence, thoughts of unbearable subjects managed to finally find time to take over his mind.

What came to mind first were his friends. Memories unfolding. He found himself smiling a little at first as his mind would rekindle a joke that had been seen as funny ages ago.

But unfortunately those memories began to lead to the closer present. The images of each and every death began to repeat over and over in his head, as consecutive as his own heart beat.

His thoughts began to spiral out of control.

He'd lost his cool head, he wasn't thinking through the plans and missions he would take part in with his new partner, neither did the word 'fun' come to mind.

Instead his mind was drowning with doubt. What if this didn't work and he had to live in this horrific new world without Piper? With nothing but pain and sorrow to promise that they'll be right behind him. And then there's Dark Ace, who could double cross him or throw him to zombies at any point. Every word that twisted man spoke Aerrow feared could be a lie.

He promised himself he would bring back Piper and the Storm Hawks, but he had to admit the world was making it pretty hard for him. As far as he could see at the moment there were no odds in his favour.

This feeling of doubt and pain was so foreign to him. Like a bitter taste worse than merb cabbage and he didn't like it. He wished he could wash it away but his mind kept telling him _you can't._

It was piling heavily on his mind until finally, what he had tried to keep locked away escaped. His side of the pillow began to soak up from the streams of tears that were now seeping from his troubled green eyes.

Despite hating it so much it wouldn't stop. Infact he was getting worse. Soon he was whimpering, his heavy breath stuttering as he tried to control himself.

The troubled Sky Knight was snapped out of his depressing daze when a rather agitated Dark Ace barked "Argh I can't take this anymore!"

Hours must have passed since he began trying to sleep, but alas he'd had no luck. And all because that childish brat was keeping him up. First he kept hearing light giggles, what the fuck Aerrow found so funny he'd never know. Then there was random twitching that kept slapping him back into consciousness. And then the tip of the bloody ice burg he starts crying! Seriously was this going to happen every night? It was early days but Dark Ace had had enough.

He got out of bed, delibrately digging elbows and feet into Aerrow as he did, and stood before the sobbing young boy who now sat up looking shook up and a little ashamed.

"How long do you plan to cry over that pathetic team of yours?! Because you're keeping me awake!"

Aerrow's sorrow began to replace with anger yet again for his enemy. How dare the weak minded Cyclonian call his friends pathetic! He wanted to yell in Dark Ace's face, infact he wanted to throw some punches too. But his rage held him frozen, forcing him to just give nasty glares that the Cyclonian knew well.

"Oh sorry did I touch a nerve?" Dark Ace asked with a mocking tone and smirk. "Look Aerrow this clearly isn't going to work so why don't you fuck off? I don't know why you asked me to do this in the first place! Go find some other Sky Knights who will happily cry over lost ones with you."

Aerrow stood up feeling the heat of the arguement. "I'm sorry Dark Ace I really had no idea you were such a heartless bastard. Or more like I forgot you were. I forgot that you don't care about anyone but yourself!"

Shockingly to Aerrow, his rival's hatred seemed to dissolve. There was no smugness or sarcasm in his face either. He actually looked taken back by the comment. Then he spoke, but his words were dejected instead of spiteful. "You honestly think that I haven't experienced what it feels like to lose people I care about? And you call me shallow! I've gone through my whole life losing people! It hurts like no other pain. But you move on because crying doesn't help. It never helped me and it doesn't bring them back!" After that rant he looked away from the red head, feeling regretful for sharing his feelings in such a way.

Aerrow looked at him with bewilderment. That was a side of the ruthless Talon he never knew existed. He continued to watch stunned, as Dark Ace walked out of the room in silence, maybe even feeling embarrassed.

The Sky Knight didn't know what to do. Seeing the man without his evil shell was something completely different. He eventually got back into bed and found himself staring at the ceiling with so many thoughts whirrling in his head.

Dark Ace did the same, but had climbed up on the roof and was now admiring the night sky. He wanted to sleep, but he too was now experiencing the stream of memories of loved ones. He grimaced, the weak minded Sky Knight had no idea how lucky he was to have the chance to bring them back. Dammit, it had been ages since he'd thought of these people, damn that little prick who had made him think of them. Damn everyone who thought ill minded of him. Damn the people he got close to, damn them for leaving him forever.

Aerrow was awakened by the sun, which had found it's way through the flimsy curtains and laid on his tired eyes. He stretched his aching limbs and forced himself out of bed to face the world again. Last night's occurances were still fresh in his mind, but he figured it best not to mention them to the Dark Ace. Not while they were a team anyway, maybe he could use it as black mail for when they're battling in the sky again in the future.

He also hadn't forgotten that the Talon had told him to leave. He didn't want to do that, the ruthless killer would be his best bet against the walking corpses. So far Sky Knights haven't been his safest company, though it killed him to admit. So he tried to act like nothing had happened. "So Dark Ace what time shall we set off to Clockstopia?" His voice echoed through the empty hut. "Dark Ace?"

He checked all the rooms and nervously knocked on the bathroom door but nothing, he was no where to be found. Had he left him? Had he set off without him?

Suddenly he caught sight of movement outside, near the edge of the Terra. He rushed to the window. "Oh my god, it's running! Why is it- no wait it's just Dark Ace... Wait, what the hell is he running for?"

Aerrow was in the middle of putting his boots on to chase him when the Dark Ace came through the door, panting a little. He looked down at Aerrow who was inspecting him with muddled eyes.

"Um what were you doing out there?"

"What? I was just having a morning jog. Wakes me up." He marched up the stairs taking his shirt off.

"Now what are you doing?" He inquired. Dark Ace turned to Aerrow with an impatient look.

"Taking a shower." He slammed the bathroom door behind him. "Im now turning the water on and taking the rest of my clothes off."

"What the?! Ew Dark Ace why did you think I wanted to know that?!" Aerrow yelled up sticking his tongue out in distaste.

The man yelled back from the bathroom "Well pardon me, I thought you wanted me to inform you on every little action I take in my daily life." Aerrow rolled his eyes and refused to yell back. Excuse him for being a little quizzical of the man who kills people for a living.

The Sky Knight took this opportunity to sneak around the base, and search for anything he could use in the future if complications happened to arise. The teen wasn't sure what to expect, but there was nothing hidden away, no secret weapons stashed, no top secret plans kept out of sight.

Feeling clean and refreshed, Dark Ace stopped the water that was beginning to lose it's heat. Rubbing his eyes he then peered around the room and realised his mistake way too late. "...Shit..." Not only did he have no change of clothes so he'd have to put his grimey uniform back on, but the bathroom seemed to be lacking in towels. "Shit. Shit. Shit!" He couldn't sneak out incase Aerrow saw, and there wasn't anything he could use to at least stop him from dripping. The Rebel Ducks apparantly couldn't even afford a friggin shower curtain!

He closed his eyes, released a heavy sigh then headed for the door, only opening it slightly. He hesitated with humiliation then finally called down to Aerrow who was eating an apple for breakfast. "Ae...Aerrow?"

"Hm what?" Aerrow asked with apprehension given that the voice came from the bathroom.

"Um...I need...uh...can you do me a favour?" The blood thirsty Talon asking him for a favour and sounding embarrassed made Aerrow laugh. He almost thought about holding his laughter back for Dark Ace's sake, but then he remembered he didn't care.

Still giggling Aerrow asked "What kind of favour?"

The Dark Ace swallowed his pride as he continued "I need a towel." The laugh that came down stairs made Dark Ace want to kill himself, or better yet kill Aerrow.

"Sure hang on." Aerrow finally responded. He ran up the stairs, still giggling childishly as he rumaged around for a towel.

He went up to the still slightly open door. "Here." He offered holding it closer to the door, only a hand reached out and snatched it, with that the door slammed shut.

Aerrow sarcastically sighed, what a nerve! No thank you or anything.

Afterward they sat together in a short awkward silence. Aerrow realised Dark Ace hadn't brought up him leaving again. _Is he acting like nothing happened either?_

Curiousity got the better of him. "I'm surprised you haven't shoved me out the door yet."

Still feeling uncomfortable about the towel incident, Dark Ace shyly looked at Aerrow "You've got a better idea of what needs to be done, I've got people I want to cure too you know."

"Oh like Cyclonis?"

Dark Ace looked away again "...Yeah sure."

OoO.

With the grand Clockstopia tower in their sights they realised that they weren't alone. Parked outside the heavy doors were five unrecognisable skimmers.

They entered with caution and weapons at the ready.

The two walked in to find a group of four seemingly discussing something.

Since they were busy with their business Dark Ace planned to sneak past, he signalled to Aerrow to do so with him. But he shook his head and told him to wait, he turned to the people and camly said "Um excuse me? What's going on?"

The group turned to the duo with weapons raised.

"Woah woah take it easy! I'm Aerrow of the Storm Hawks!" They settled down, but a man with a beard furrowed his brows at Dark Ace when he recognised the dangerous Cyclonian. He raised his weapon again but pointed it directly at Dark Ace.

"Well he's not a Storm Hawk!" Dark Ace scowled at the man.

There were hostile glares throughout the room, most aimed at Dark Ace.

Aerrow stood infront of the Talon with his hands up "Wait a second guys, it's OK we don't want any trouble. We're all on the same side now."

Aerrow heard the Dark Ace whisper "Fuck this." After that he pushed the boy out of the way and ordered "Look we've got a job to do, so stay out of our way and there really _won't _be any trouble." He flashed his gun to show that he was serious and still with a Cyclonian mind state.

At that point the fifth guy of the group came through a door leading to stairs going up. Dark Ace's determination took over. "Excuse me." He said then made his way to the door. Unfortunately the man also recognised Dark Ace and refused to let him past.

"There aint no way I'm letting a Cyclonian mess with the time pulse!" _How noble of him,_ Dark Ace thought about this new burden. He could do without all this shit.

Refusing to give this twat the same chance as his friends, Dark Ace shot the guy in the stomach and continued up the stairs nonchalantly.

He gave no thought to the fuss being made behind him, figured he'd let Aerrow handle it. It's not like he killed the guy. Big fuss over nothing.

With the Dark Ace gone, the group were huddled around their injured comrade. Aerrow took the time to apologise for him. But found himself with weapons raised and pointing at him.

"A real shock to see you all friendly with the likes of him!" One preached to him.

"Believe me, I'm only doing it to save the Atmos. We have to collect a whole load of crystals see?"

"Ah right, so you haven't gone Cyclonian?"

"Of course not! I'd rather eat dirt!"

"You and me both brother." There was a cheer of agreement.

"So what happened to the Time keepers?"

After an unnerved look between the group, one of the men turned his gaze to a scrawny man with glasses who kept checking the gears. "After the infection went world wide, barry, the time keeper's nephew, recieved a call about an emergency. When we arrived, they'd disappeared."

"Hey look Aerrow since you're short on a team maybe you could join us? We'll help you find the crystals, and we'll be a hell of a lot better company than that bastard you're with at the moment."

Aerrow contemplated for a moment then said "Well-"

"Yeah off you go Aerrow." He was interupted by the Dark Ace who was now strolling towards them. Gun in one hand crystal in the other. As he got closer Aerrow felt like he could read a sense of sorrow for being ditched in the older man's face. "Who'd want help from me right? What ever I'm better off alone anyway." With that he threw the retrieved crystal into Aerrow's arms and headed for the door.

"Yeah good riddens!" One of the group members yelled.

He felt kind of unwanted and betrayed as he left through the tower's doors, not that he should have. It wasn't like he would miss Aerrow or anything like that. But he wanted to be a part of the time travelling mission, it had made him feel useful, like he was in an accepted state again. But no, he'd been discarded by Aerrow. Can't say he blamed him really. Maybe he was as worthless as Cyclonis had said he was.

"Wait up!" That Sky Knight's annoying voice called out to him. Mystified, he watched Aerrow as he ran to him.

Since Dark Ace didn't say anything Aerrow continued with "So are we heading back to Gale or shall we hit another Terra?"

Astonished if anything Dark Ace asked "Wait what? Aren't you with them now?"

"I was going to. But then I remembered I'd already made a truce with you, and a Sky Knight doesnt go back on his word. So you're stuck with me no matter what!" He appeared annoyingly happy about that (on purpose).

"Stop with the soppy bull shit and let's go." Was the closest thing to 'thanks' that Aerrow would get.

As they began to fly, Aerrow pointed out that the day was growing dimmer so retreating to Gale was probably the best option.

On the way back, for the first time a conversation between them sprang up. "Weren't they pissed when you blew them off to join me?"

"Yeah. They told me that if I did this I was all of Atmos' enemy. But they're wrong, I'm doing this _for _the Atmos, and like I said I'm faithful to my word."

Today Aerrow had realised that although all of what was yet to come was for a good cause, he would come across hostile people who didnt agree with him one way or another. He could barely kill zombies given that they used to be humans, so he would find it hard to hurt someone in his way like Dark Ace did today, those were the real reasons for catching up to him.

All the way back to Gale Dark Ace hadn't spoken another word, he barely even looked at Aerrow. He wasn't sure how to cope with the foolish Sky Knight's devotion. He didn't know what to make of it, what were his motives? What could Aerrow possibly gain by continuing to fight by his side? They clearly weren't mixing very well.

After dining on a rather simple meal, Dark Ace headed out the door once more. It was nightfall now, but he didn't care. When Aerrow questioned him he simply replied with "Out" and "just something I have to do, nothing to worry about."

And it wasn't really, it was just something he had to- or more like wanted to do.

OoO.

Although the mist was a burden to his eyes, the head lights of his skimmer were a clear enough path to retrace his steps back to the rock, in which he'd left a certain someone...or something...he wasn't sure what they were really labelled as.

As he arrived and laid his eyes upon the zombiefied Ravess he wasn't really sure what to do next. He just hovered above her, his crimson eyes met her blank but observant hungry ones. She began to snarl and struggle to reach up for him, longing for nothing but flesh in between her-or it's teeth. She'd broken free of her restraints but so far she had survived the chance of limping over the ledge.

He just watched her with pitiful and disgusted eyes. He didn't exactly stay for very long, truth be told he was getting bored. He had nothing to give her and there was nothing to do to her. So he returned to an impatient and cautious Aerrow.

Aerrow was aware that he and Dark Ace weren't exactly 'tight', but after what had happened today, the teen figured he deserved a bit more respect from the Talon.

"So what were you doing?" He asked casually but the doubt was clear enough.

"Nothing." Dark Ace shrugged, Aerrow didnt deserve a proper explaination in his eyes. Besides telling Aerrow that he was hiding a zombie away probably wouldn't go down well.

They lay back to back again in bed that night.

They must have been lying there for around an hour. Aerrow found himself back in that depressive state again, grieving over the images of his friends ripped apart or drowning in their own blood. He would have tried to cover up his crying to avoid seeming weak to the Cyclonian, but they'd already been through this, and when his mind tortured him like this it was like nothing else mattered.

Dark Ace too was still awake, just barely, his eyes were beginning to sore from exhaustion. Oddly enough Aerrow wasn't keeping him awake, the young boy's whimpers entered one ear and left the other. His mind was somewhere else, he was pondering and debating on what to do about Ravess. Does he need to feed her? Surely that's crossing the line. Maybe a fence would be a good idea.

He knew that keeping her safe wasn't exactly a priority anymore, but there was a pinch of doubt in his mind that raised the question _what if it doesn't work?_

Since he was tired his mind trailed a bit and he kept returning to Aerrow's decision today. Sure that group weren't exactly brutal like him, but they seemed like more the young boy's style.

After today it seemed both guys felt they should be watching their backs. Aerrow was curious about Dark Ace's secret night time wander, and the Talon himself was questioning Aerrow's motives.

He was well aware that the teen wanted to know where he'd gone tonight. The last thing he needed was Aerrow following him, he had to do something to give Aerrow a false sense of trust, he should've done it sooner really.

So he said through his tired state "Try to get some sleep." It was enough to make Aerrow feel more tranquil.

**OoO.**

**Dark ace standing naked in the bathroom panicking over no towel...yeah i regret nothing X)**

**Seriously though sorry that there wasn't as much action in this chapter but to be fair you can't expect a zombie disaster every time I update can you :P**

**Please review if you liked or what ever XD**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hi wow it certainly took me a long time to update didn't it? Well I hope this chapter makes up for the wait because it's a hell of a long one.**

**A quick thank you too all my reviewers it really means a lot to be when you take time to review and it's nice to know which part you guys have enjoyed etc :) **

**I don't own Storm Hawks if I did wow it wouldn't be for kids would it XD**

OoO.

"You're sure it was close by?"

"Yeah pretty sure, and we left in a hurry so there should be a nice amount of crystals on board."

"You better be right Aerrow, because if this turns out to be a wasted trip-"

"Relax it won't be. You should have a little faith in me Dark Ace." Aerrow said with a condescending smirk. Dark Ace swung the gun over his shoulder and rolled his eyes _Like that was ever going to happen. _

Dark Ace was actually surprised Aerrow wasn't trying to avoid going back to the condor. With the way the boy cries every night, he'd have thought it would be too hard for the little twat.

When the Storm Hawks evacuated the Condor who knows what happened to it, Aerrow just prayed it was still in tact and available to reach. God knows where it will be though, he feared it may have fallen to the wastelands, and even worse in the lava.

The Sky Knight hadn't mentioned this to his now zombie killing team mate, but crystals weren't the only reason why Aerrow wanted to venture out to the abandoned ship. There was also a reason of sentiment, which is why he had everything crossed in hope that his old home wasn't lost to the river of fire.

OoO.

The daring duo had been soaring around for hours with no luck, Aerrow was seriously regretting not memorising where the hell they'd been when they evacuated, he only had a rough idea.

"You know something Aerrow? As we continue to fly around here, I can't help but think that this _is_ a waste of our fucking time."

The red head did nothing but roll his eyes, who would have known the Dark Ace was such a pain in the ass?

Since Aerrow said nothing, the dark haired man continued "I mean maybe, if certain people planned things through a little more efficiently, we would oh I don't know have finished this particular job a lot quicker."

Aerrow glared at the Cyclonian, who responded with a taunting smile. He was enjoying Aerrow's failure today so much, and why shouldn't he? It was almost like a sweet treat seeing his nemesis in the middle of a mission, and sucking at it.

"It's being in a situation like this with you Aerrow, that makes me realise; wow you're not really as spectacular as everyone believes you to be hm?"

"Yeah you might be right." Aerrow said preparing to zoom down further to get a better look of the wastelands in this area. "But I still manage to kick your ass every time we meet don't I? Funny that, aint it Dark Ace?" He laughed in the Talon's face as Dark Ace gritted his teeth at the remark, the teen then proceeded to fly down with his mouth curled into a winning smirk.

Dark Ace flew down too, following the young boy. Just as he drew close enough behind, the Cyclonian released the clutch and sped past the Sky Knight leaving an exhaust trail in Aerrow's face.

Recovering with a few coughs he shook his head and accelerated after him. _So it's a race he wants huh?_ He grinned as the older man returned back in sight.

The two were heading down to the wastelands at top speed, not only determiation glazed in both emerald and crimson eyes, but also a hint of enjoyment.

Aerrow closed the distance his foe had made and upon passing him yelled "Gonna whip your weapons out if you can't catch up loser?"

Damn the little brat had a nerve, although pulling his gun out had crossed his mind. He realised he didn't need to, he would beat Aerrow without cheating, then who will be laughing?

Dark Ace quickly caught up, just as he reached the rear of Aerrow's bike he tilted his skimmer up, and leant to the side so just as he passed the Sky Knight he yelled to him upside down mid 360 "Don't need to!" After that he twirled back the right way up and continued in the lead.

As the two of them flew through Atmos' once most dangerous area, they continued to race neck and neck. If one got knocked back, it didn't take long for redemtion.

Oddly enough neither attempted sabotage by pushing the other straight into a geyser, or leading the opponent right into the jaws of a lava serpant. It was more of just an adrenaline race to test and show off skills. The mission kept them civil.

Practically surfing on the river's surface, the partnered enemies looked at each other for a moment, then looked back ahead.

Something caught their eye and together they both exclaimed "The Condor!"

Another glance was exchanged but this time slight smiles and furrowed brows were added to the mix. This was it, who ever reached the condor first was the winner. A simple game had never meant so much.

Grips tightened and focus increased as they flew quick as lightning. Still parallel to each other, they headed towards the crashed ship, which now lay damaged at the shore of the river on some brimstone untouched by the heat.

The two now trying to decieve the other with sneaky turns and zooming ahead unexpectantly, at this rate slowing down wasn't an option. Even if it meant crashing.

Whatever, they were Aerrow and Dark Ace they could take it.

Nearing the finish line something caught Aerrow's eye. _Is that a?...Yes...Oh God it is!" _

"Dark Ace break!" After giving the order, Aerrow clutched the breaks as tightly as possible causing him to swing in the air as if he were attached to a string. When he finally haulted and hovered he realised Dark Ace hadn't stopped, he was still speeding towards the ship at max speed.

The Dark Ace hadn't seen what the Sky Knight had, hell his sights never strayed from the ship, so he barely even heard the boy scream his name as he reached the climax.

So there was no way he could have spotted a group of zombies that had found a path down to the hellish wastelands.

All he knew was that Aerrow wasn't beside him or infront. He was going to win!

As he reached the finish line Dark Ace finally began to use his breaks, but it was way too late for a safe landing. He soared down to the floor, the impact so hard that the skimmer actually bounced as it hit, throwing the Cyclonian off in the process.

Fantastic, another rocky landing.

Dark Ace practically gliding across, rolled and bashed into the ground as the momentum continued to carry him along. As he finally came to a hault he skidded along on his back, and finished the crash as his armour caught on a stone, causing him to end the landing in a roll. He finished on his side, with a new gash and scratches on his head.

At this point Aerrow was close to landing himself but a lot cleaner. Just as his skimmer hit the floor, he leapt off weapons in hand and fired the minute he regained proper balance. As the zombies were already wandering towards the sound of the crash.

He missed the crucial head shots a few times and had to run closer to finally put them down.

There were more than what had met the eye when they were flying, so he was only just beginning to notice more limping and appearing from the shadows or behind walls.

Constantly turning on his feet Aerrow was firing in every direction trying to keep the mindless flesh eaters at bay.

He caught a glimpse of something rather fancyable so he hurried towards it. Dark Ace's katana now in Aerrow's hands, it felt awesome to get to weild it.

Still with his gun at the ready in case, Aerrow began running back and forth at the closer zombies stabbing their heads, flinching as the blood splattered back in his face. How Dark Ace enjoyed this he'd never know.

Good God the pain in his head was brutal, the spinning sensation made it feel like he was still crashing. Never the less Dark Ace's eyes peeled open, his ears beginning to take in what was actually happening. Sounded like a fight behind him...a fight that he was missing out on!

Before picking himself up he noticed some feet dragging towards him. They were pretty minging, looked like they hadn't been washed in a year. Then it clicked in his mind what it was _shit I need to get up! _

Despite a bitter sting in his elbow he reached behind his shoulder, but failed to find his sword's handle.

Still a little dazed he raised his head and tried to make his body do the same. The zombie was close now, so close that it had it's hands out ready to grab.

The next thing he could think of were the small knives, luckily they hadn't been lost during his fall.

As it bent down to grab him he jerked the knife up between it's blank eyes. A devilish tint flared in his eyes as he did so. Back in the game!

He pulled himself up, only allowing gritted teeth to show his endurement of pain. He just couldn't worry about that now, the thrill of the kill had consumed him.

He turned to Aerrow where the action was and _Little bastard has my sword! _he drew his gun and started pulling the trigger. When he wasn't putting them down he was clipping their heads or shoulders.

Dammit there were still a dangerous amount. "We need to get inside!" The older man called to his partner, hoping he hadn't noticed the raspy noise that came with it.

Aerrow turned to the man and nodded, retreating towards the ship. The hanger bay was still open from when they'd left the condor.

Shooting the few zombies that had been close enough to follow, the hanger bay was then closed.

Finally feeling safe the two released a sigh, their shoulders relaxing.

The Dark Ace put his hands on his hips and smiled, he then looked at Aerrow who appeared exhausted. "Who's up for the next round?!" a chuckle following. Aerrow looked back at him unamused.

His smile disappeared and he shuffled on his feet a little embarrased. "Gimme my sword back." With that he swiped it from Aerrow's hands.

Thanks to the crash, the lights on the condor were dim and flashing.

Echoed through the ship was a dreary long moan. The two turned to the sound, but there was nothing in sight.

Weapons now at the ready for god knows how many, with Aerrow in the lead the two creeped further into the Condor. The deep moan seemed to be drawing closer as they stalked through the halls.

Before they could reach the source of the mystery groans the lights blinked once more, before finally flashing off for good.

Both stopped in their tracks, senses on high alert as they were now surrounded by darkness.

Aerrow asked in a whisper "You still with me?"

"Well where the hell would I go?" He responded sarcastically.

Snide remarks could wait as the moan got closer, and there was the light sound of foot steps coming from one of the rooms.

Aerrow gasped as he felt a hand on his shoulder, before he could retaliate the gruff voice of the Talon said "Relax it's me." He then pulled Aerrow towards him, positioning them both back to back.

Shifting a little on their feet as they awaited for what could only be a zombie.

It still wasn't close enough to attack, and it just occured to Dark Ace that a gun shot would attract more, if there were any more.

"Aerrow." He whispered.

"What?" The teen replied, slight tint of fear in his voice.

"Here." His hand nudged the boy's arm. Aerrow felt around, and grabbed a handle, but surely that's not what Dark Ace was hinting at. "Take it!"

Surprised he slowly took the sword from Dark Ace's grasp and put his gun away.

After that Dark Ace pulled one of his blades out as a replacement.

Suddenly the low tone moan was a lot louder and it was coming from Aerrow's direction. He gulped as he prepared for the confrontation.

Then it dawned on him_ what if it's Starling? What if the zombiefied Starling survived Finn's firey shot? _His heart began to race, his hands trembling a bit. He couldn't shoot Starling, corpse or not. He couldn't believe Finn had even managed it when this whole thing started.

He didn't even know why he felt this way about these walking corpses. Obviously when he had to for survival he would, but when it concerned his friends especially, a mind block was formed. He didn't see a zombie with the longing for flesh, he still saw his friend and he just couldn't do it.

He wasn't even sure if it was his Sky Knight companion. But it was enough to freeze his limbs.

A hand from his front grabbed his shoulder and gripped it tightly, pulling him in to rip the skin off his face.

He whimpered as he tried to push the mystery zombie away, the katana loose in his grip. "...No..." escaped his lips as he struggled.

Before Aerrow knew what was happening Dark Ace had rammed the knife through it's head.

The teen stared into the darkness wide eyed.

If anything at that moment in time, he felt embarrassed for needing the Cyclonian to save him like that.

To move on from that humiliating moment, and trying to evade what ever Dark Ace was going to say to him for freezing like that he said "C'mon, the main switch is uh this way." With that he marched on a head, Dark Ace behind him.

They managed to reach the mains switch without anymore problems. After some fiddling around with crystals and wires, the lights came back on, but only just, and there was no way they could get the engines running. Not without Stork.

"We should do some recon, see if there are any more wandering around." Aerrow suggested beginning to feel the nostaligia.

"Before we do. What the hell was all that about Aerrow?" Dark Ace glared down at him, Aerrow tried to hold his gaze but found himself looking away in shame.

"I...I uh don't know. It doesn't matter now, let's just go shall we?" With that he left the room, but his angered partner stormed after him.

"It does matter when it's fucking kill or be killed!"

"Alright Dark Ace! Just shut up about it! I get the point, sorry you had to save me alright?"

"Yeah you better be, because next time I won't be there to help when you get cold feet or what ever the hell it was."

He caught up to Aerrow then pushed past him causing the red head to bang into the wall. "You need to get your head right Sky Knight!"

As they scouted the rest of the condor they found the odd zombie wandering around, but nothing they couldn't handle. Turns out it wasn't Starling's reanimated corpse who had crossed them earlier. Aerrow was forever grateful, because he wouldn't have been able to stomach the sight of Starling's body all gross and burnt.

The two checked through the window, there were still a large crowd outside waiting for the living.

The plan had been to grab the crystals then get back on the skimmers returning home to Terra Gale. However that plan was now on hold as the sun began to set, the zombie's states began to liven, and the skimmers were too far away to try and make a run for it. Not to mention, Dark Ace's would need a bit of tinkering before it would take off.

To but it bluntly: sleepover at the Condor.

Before the two finally got some time to themselves they ensured the entrance to the Condor was barracated as best they could, and they covered all windows with blankets or sheets.

Now alone, Dark Ace's stomach chuned a little as he wandered through the halls and rooms of the place he considered to be his first ever real home. He had a weird image in his head of the previous Storm Hawks appearing as ghosts or something, hell he'd take the zombies any day.

There was a collection of memories reanimating in his mind, as he spotted things that hadn't changed on this ship since he first arrived. A crack in the ceiling, the layout of some rooms. All completely irrelevant, but to him it meant something. Shit why did it matter? Why was he getting all nostalgic over this shit tip that he'd sent to it's doom all those years ago? Just something he couldn't control.

Aerrow was taking detours in all of his friend's rooms. Grabbing the little things that were special, things he could take back and make the new place feel more like home. He grabbed photos, some of Piper's crystal stuff, only after he held them close to his heart before packing them away. This also included as many maps as he could carry.

He grabbed Finn's old radio, which now was out of order thanks to the apocalypse, but that was irrelevant. He wanted a little bit of something from everyone. So when he glanced at them on Terra Gale he couldn't forget them or his goals.

He smiled as he chose to take Junko's teddy bear back with him, something like that just couldn't be abandoned at a time like this. He also added Radar's blanket from his bed to the collection and a catalog of some of the weirdest contraptions he'd even seen from Stork's room.

Aerrow sat in his own room for a while, on the edge of his bed with a group photo in his hands. He grimaced as he looked at each individual, suddenly soaking up things they would say and do, the silly things that made them special.

His emerald eyes finally went to Piper's cheerful face, her beautiful eyes twinkling as she posed for the camera. His thumb stroked her cheek as he began to miss her by his side, her voice, her scent, her sweet lips. It was all to live for.

Snapped out of his memories by the door sliding open, Dark Ace stumbled forward a little at the door as if he were stopping himself in his tracks. The two looked at each other for a brief moment.

Dark Ace said, looking shifty and uneasy "...Oh...This. This is you room?"

"Uh, yeah."

"...Oh..." With that he backed away into the hall again looking kind of uncomfortable and filled with dejection _that was _my _room._

The moon was high in the sky now. Aerrow was finally heading back to the bridge, as he walked in he spotted the Dark Ace who was leaning against a wall, ever so slightly peering out of the window. At first the teen figured he was keeping a look out, but Dark Ace's head was tilted up.

"What are you doing?" Aerrow asked, Dark Ace gasped and practically leapt out of his skin.

"Ah Aerrow...nothing." With that he covered the window up again.

The Sky Knight continued to look at Dark Ace with curiosity, so the Talon came up with something to change the subject. "You going to bed?"

"Hm? Oh, no I'm not really tired." The memories were too overwhelming to let him sleep.

"Me too." The Dark Ace responded sitting on the couch in the process.

Surprisingly Aerrow sat with him.

There was a slight hint of awkwardness hanging in the air as they sat together. Neither not really knowing what to say.

"So..." Aerrow started, his left leg jittering a little. "The condor changed much since you left?"

Emerald met crimson as the Dark Ace glared at him. Why had he brought that up? The ex Storm Hawk really didn't want to go into this topic, so he brushed Aerrow's question off by replying with "Well there wasn't a shitty drawing of me on the fridge last time I checked."

Aerrow giggled a little "Oh yeah, sorry about that." He smiled at Dark Ace who didn't return the favour.

He swallowed then asked trying to appear nonchalant "You get on well with the Storm Hawks?"

"Aerrow?"

"Yes?"

"Piss off."

"Sorry I just thought that since we're partners now we could talk about stuff, you know like a team would? Might make us feel better when we have to save each other."

_Damn this little prick has a nerve! _Dark Ace couldn't believe Aerrow was even trying to hint towards the betrayal. "Don't kid yourself Aerrow!"

"OK, touchy subject."

The room fell back into silence, the two were just staring into space.

Rather than feel infuriated by Aerrow's inquisition, he kind of felt like the boy had a point. There was still an atmosphere of hatred between them, and it did make it hard when they had to watch each other's backs.

But then, during the race there was more of a surge of enjoyment instead of a competetive state of mind. Yes he had wanted to beat Aerrow, but it wasn't like he was planning to laugh in his face and humiliate him after. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind. He'd just wanted to prove himself.

Then it occured to him; when he woke up from the crash, there were loads of zombies near him already dead on the ground. _Aerrow was...protecting me..._

"...I have a scar, on my left thigh." Dark Ace started, and was already kind of feeling lost on what the hell he was doing.

Aerrow just looked at him confused, where exactly was he going with this?

"I got it, after I joined the Storm Hawks. Wasn't in a battle or anything, I just...really liked Lightning Strike's sword, so when no one was looking I started playing with it, swinging it round ninja style and I uh caught myself with it."

It took Aerrow a moment to try and conjure up an idea of what the young Dark Ace might look like. And when he did the imagery of that scene was hilarious to him, resulting in him having a giggle fit. Much to his surprise Dark Ace half heartedly joined in.

"Yeah, and I didn't want to tell anyone so I tried to soak up the blood with a sponge."

Aerrow burst out laughing, the fact that it was Dark Ace made it ten times funnier to him.

The laughter died down a little leaving the two of them with content smiles, they felt some what more comfortable with each other after Dark Ace had managed to lighten the mood.

"You gave me my first scar I think." Aerrow said although there wasn't a grudge in his tone.

"Oh yeah?" He replied smirking.

"Yeah our first battle when I crashed to the floor."

His famous laugh escaped the Dark Ace's lips. "I feel very honoured. Where abouts is it?"

"Across my arm. My armour dug into it as I hit the ground."

Today's race sparked suddenly up in the red head's mind as he remembered Dark Ace's crash. "By the way you're an idiot." Aerrow taunted.

"How do you figure that exactly?"

"Well c'mon, why didn't you slow down when we were racing? I shouted at you to stop. If the crash hadn't killed you the zombies could have."

Dark Ace sat up and turned to Aerrow so he was completely facing him. He then began counting off points with his fingers "First of all you were going just as fast; second of all I didn't hear you, nor did I see the zombies because I was looking at the Condor and thirdly: ha ha I beat you!"

"What?! Oh you've got to be kidding that win didn't count! I slowed down because of the zombies."

Dark Ace shook his head grinning "That's not my problem Aerrow, I still got there before you."

"Yeah right, had the zombies not been there I would've kicked your ass again!"

"Ohhh is that so? Well maybe we'll have a little rematch some time."

"Fine we will!"

"Fine, but in the mean time shut your god damn loser mouth!" The older man couldn't help but laugh as Aerrow's next response was to cross his arms and look huffy.

OoO.

Waking up in a bed without the other was a fantastic relief. That night Aerrow slept in Piper's room, so Dark Ace took refuge in his or Aerrow's room.

After savouring a steaming hot shower the two had one last scower around the Condor. Aerrow was grabbing a few extra clothes from his drawers. Dark Ace too was searching for some civillian clothes that would hopefully fit.

He stumbled across a cupboard, it mustn't have been used for a while because he had to pry it open.

Dust erupted in his face as he finally forced it open. Inside there were cardboard boxes, he opened a few up and was greeted by a pang of memories. It appeared to be stuff from the predecessors.

Thankfully there was some clothes left over from the adults which he could use, so he rolled them up and put them under his arm. As he rumaged for a few more he found a photo inside, a shot of the squadren.

Before he could dwell on it though, Aerrow called from the bridge "Dark Ace you ready to go?"

Snapped out of it he called back "Yeah...coming now."

OoO.

"OK you got the list?"

"Yes start already."

Elevating the box of crystals already collected onto the table, Aerrow began picking them out one by one naming them, while Dark Ace checked them off a list.

"We've got a firebolt, windstone, time pulse crystal, blocker, floater, blazer, oh and we've got some crystals for engine power too. Which we can put over here out of the way, and last but not least a hypnosis crystal compliments of my sweet Piper."

"Right so according to this list we've got...a fuck load left to get." Dark Ace moaned resting his chin on his hand and throwing the list to the floor.

This was going to taking forever.

OoO.

Please review if you enjoyed this chapter, your reviews motivate me to upload faster :)


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